Mikhail Youzhny surprises Nicolas Almagro in the third round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Another upset was witnessed at the Wimbledon Championships, when the 18thseed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia defeated the in-form 16th seed, Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the third round on Saturday.
The local crowd at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, was struck with surprise when Youzhny disposed off the Spaniard 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-3, to move into the pre-quarter-final stages of
the third Grand Slam tournament of the running year.
The enthralling contest lasted for two hours and forty three minutes before the Russian finally came out as the winner in the end. Youzhny had a sloppy start to the match, which cost him the opening set but he recovered with great
mastery to reel off the next three sets in a row to turn the tables on Almagro.
It was the third time that Almagro suffered a defeat at the hands of Youzhny in singles matchups. The last time these two men met resulted in a straight sets defeat for Almagro at Munich last year, when Youzhny finished the match
at 7-6(2), 6-4, to move into the quarter-finals of the tournament. The Russian’s victory over Almagro on Saturday made his all-time head-to-head record against him 3-0.
The 15th ranked Spaniard has been in a superb form this year and has already won three ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) singles championship titles. Almagro was considered among the strongest competitors in
the star-studded field of Wimbledon but the promising Spaniard failed to come up to the expectations of the tennis fans all around the globe.
Almagro, who is well reckoned for his precise serve, appeared rusty in the contest and delivered just 56 per cent of his first serve on target. On the other hand, Youzhny fired 18 aces with his 72 per cent serve and amazingly reeled
off 78 out of 92 first serve points en route to victory.
The Spaniard had an excellent start to the game, breaking his opponent early to clinch the opening set at 6-4. Almagro had 10 more break chances in the later sets but he frittered away all of them to remain at a disadvantage in
the contest. Youzhny took the second set to bounce back in the game and then went on to win the third set tie breaker to get a commanding position in the match.
The Russian continued with his winning momentum and bagged the fourth set at 6-3 to seal victory for him and booked a date with the world number three, Roger Federer of Switzerland in the fourth round of the tournament.
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