Mikhail Youzhny stuns Feliciano Lopez in round two – China Open 2011
World number 37, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, continued his magnificent run at the China Open, upsetting the 28th ranked Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, in the second round encounter on Wednesday afternoon.
The unseeded Russian battled for two hours and twenty four minutes before clinching the three-setter, 6-7(5), 6-2, 7-5, to book a berth in the quarter-final of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
Being played at the outdoor hard courts of the Olympic Green Tennis Center, in Beijing, China, Youzhny registered his second surprised victory of the tournament, as he knocked out the world number 11, Nicolas Almagro of Spain,
in the opening round. The Russian continued with his belligerent game play in the contest against Lopez as well to make it to the final eight in the tournament.
Lopez was running a three-match winning streak against Youzhny prior to their Wednesday’s meeting but the Russian came up with some extra ordinary effort to turn the tables on him this time round. Youzhny finally avenged his defeats
in the second round clash and improved his head-to-head record against Lopez to 2-3.
Lopez was off to an excellent start and fired 20 thudding aces in the matchup. The Spaniard converted three of his 10 break chances in the contest but Youzhny bettered him by registering six of his 10 break opportunities to come
out as the winner in the end. A number of unforced errors from Lopez, including 10 costly double faults, wore him out in the later parts of the game.
The Spaniard bagged the opening set tie breaker to get one up early in the matchup but Youzhny made tremendous recovery to reel off the last two sets to conclude an emphatic victory in the end.
Youzhny will either take on the former world number three, Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, or the unseeded German competitor, Florian Mayer, in the quarters to battle for a semi-final berth at the China Open. Ljubicic and Mayer will
compete later in the afternoon and the winner will meet the Russian in the round of eight.
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