Mikhail Youzhny takes down Andreas Haider-Maurer in the quarters – Suisse Open Gstaad 2011
Rated at number 14 in world rankings, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, went through tough times before he finally defeated the unseeded Austrian opponent, Andreas Haider-Maurer, in the quarter-finals of Credit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad
on Friday afternoon.
Being a part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 clay-court swing, the competition was staged at the Credit Agricole Arena in Gstaad, Switzerland, with the third seeded Russian competitor winning in
three sets 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, to qualify for the semi-final draws of the tournament.
The evenly poised contest took two hours and twenty minute to conclude, with the resilient Austrian surrendering in the third set. Youzhny bagged the opening set early to get the initial advantage in the game but Haider-Maurer
bounced back in the contest by clinching the second set. A decisive third set was played, with the third seeded Russian cruising to victory after outclassing Haider-Maurer.
Youzhny used his brilliant serving skills to perfection and it proved to be the differentiating factor in the game. The Russian banged almost 70 per cent of his serve on target and reeled off 45 first serve points on it, with his
opponent following him at 39. Haider-Maurer had five opportunities to break his opponent’s serve in the matchup and he cashed in three of them while suffering four serve breaks from the third seed to lose the contest.
Youzhny had a ballistic start to the opener and broke his opponent’s serve in the very first game of the match to lead 2-0. Haider-Maurer registered his first break point of the day in the sixth game but was immediately broken
by Youzhny, who then went on to close the first set at 6-4 to get one up in the contest.
Haider-Maurer took off the following set with commanding aggression and broke into a 3-0 lead right away. The Russian reduced the scores deficit with a break point conversion in the seventh game but a second serve break of the
set from the Austrian wrapped up the set at 7-5 to level the matchup with one set a piece.
Youzhny gathered up his pace in the final set and one serve break proved sufficient for him to conclude victory at 6-4, getting access to the semi-final round of Suisse Open. The third seeded Russian will take on the eighth seeded
Spanish competitor, Marcel Granollers, in the next clash to get a title shot in the final of the tournament.
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