Mikhail Youzhny vs Marcel Granollers – Semi-final Preview: Suisse Open Gstaad 2011
World number 14, Mikhail Youzhny gets him ready to compete in the semi-final of Credit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad, where he will play against the 45th ranked Spaniard, Marcel Granollers, on Saturday afternoon for a
place in the final of the APT (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
The contest will be staged on the clay courts of the Credit Agricole Arena in Gstaad, Switzerland, with two of the finest athletes fighting to get a title shot. Seeded at number three in the tournament, Youzhny has exhibited his
brilliant class throughout the tournament to reach the round of four in the most convincing fashion. The Russian had to toil a bit before he eventually took down the unseeded Austrian, Andreas Haider-Maurer, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, in the quarter-final matchup last
day.
Youzhny received a bye to get a direct access to the second round of the tournament, where he dispensed out Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, and carried on his momentum in the quarter-final to rally in to
the round of four. Youzhny’s form in the running ATP season has been quite satisfying, despite of the fact that the Russian has failed to grab championship title. He played 34 singles contests this year and has stood victorious in 19 of them, losing 15 matches.
The other semi-finalist, Granollers, is the other player who has reckoned himself as a dominating force at Suisse Open. The Spaniard is yet to lose a set in the tournament and has annihilated every contestant he faced en route
to semi-final in straight sets. Granollers made a huge upset in the quarter-finals when he outplayed the home favourite, the world number 17, Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, to force his way to meet Youzhny.
Granollers has dropped just 10 games in the three matches he played in the tournament, depicting the destructive form he is currently running. The eighth seeded Spaniard has won just one championships title in his career, which
came in 2008 by defeating James Blake in the final the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships. Granollers has competed in 31 singles matches this ATP season and has registered victory in 12 encounters, including the emphatic win against Wawrinka this week.
Youzhny and Granollers has already played against each other twice this year, with the last encounter in the Round Robin of World Team Championships in Dusseldorf, where the Russian outclassed his opponent in straight sets 6-3,
6-4. Their earlier clash was at Rotterdam, where Granollers suffered a defeat at 2-6, 6-7(6) in the round of 32 to trail the head-to-head series against Youzhny by 0-2.
Looking at the two straight sets victories against Granollers earlier this year, it appears quite evident that Youzhny will have no difficulties in winning the Saturday’s semi-final against the Spaniard. Granollers has not bagged
a single set in the last two encounters against Youzhny and it is hard to say that he might topple the third seeded Russian to reach the final of Suisse Open. Surely, Youzhny will step on the court as the hot favourite but he needs not to lose his focus in
the game, as Granollers can be extremely lethal on his day.
Tags: