Mikhail Youzhny trounces Brian Baker in the first round – If Stockholm Open 2012
World number 27, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, got a comprehensive victory over USA’s 56th ranked player, Brian Baker, in the first round of the If Stockholm Open in Sweden.
The Russian allowed Baker to claim just four games in the entire contest, capturing it in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 in just an hour and 17 minutes and moving to the last 16.
The 30-year-old, Youzhny, is a former top 10 player, attaining his highest ranking of number eight in the world in 2008. The Russian star captured his eighth tour level title at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors in February this year.
Youzhny’s other prominent performances in this year were reaching the semi-finals at the St. Petersburg Open and Gerry Weber Open, where he lost to Martin Klizan and Roger Federer respectively.
Talking about the Russian’s latest match, both players held their serve in the first four games to square off the score at 2-2. Youzhny nailed a break in the fifth to move ahead 3-2 but the American player struck back immediately
to even out the proceedings at 3-3. The Russian contender grabbed three back to back games after that to close it 6-3.
Youzhny smacked two aces and committed one double fault in the opening set. The Russian national had a low first serve percentage of 46 and managed to win just eight of the 12 points on them. The 30-year-old gave an average performance
on the first returns, winning eight of the 19 points but the best part of his game was the second ones, from which he won eight of the 11.
The Russian contestant raced to a 3-0 lead at the start of the second set. Baker opened his account by holding his serve in the fourth but he could not win even a single one later on, losing 1-6.
Youzhny banged in two aces and 64 percent of the first serves, pocketing 11 of the 14 points on them. The Moscow, Russia resident did not provide any break opportunity to Baker in the second set.
The 6ft tall will meet either Patrik Rosenholm or Gael Monfils in the second round.
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