Olivier Rochus upsets Mikhail Youzhny at Sony Ericsson Open
Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus bounced back from one set down to win against the 13th seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny in a three set thriller on Monday. Rochus registered a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over the Russian to advance
to the fourth round at Key Biscayne in Miami.
Ranked 89th in the world, Rochus entered this tournament, his first this season, in great form. He defeated Italian Flavio Cipolla and American Tim Smyczek in the qualifiers. The 30-year-old Belgian then triumphed over
Slovene Blaz Kavcic and 22nd seeded Cyprian Marcos Baghdatis in the first two rounds in mouth watering three sets to reach this spot. He is the only qualifier left in tournament to advance this far.
Youzhny, who recently made a quarter-final berth at Rotterdam and semi-final berth at Marseille this season, showed amazing skills in the opening set as he earned an early break and took the lead to 2-0. The 28-year-old went on
rage mode as he just lost one game in the set and won the set with a breadstick. He broke Rochus serve in the sixth game as well, smacked three aces and registered a spectacular 72 percent win on his slightly lower first serve share to clinch the set convincingly.
The booming Rochus re-formed in the second set as he broke the Russian opening serve in the second game after saving three breakpoints to keep his serve in the first game. Though he lost his serve in the proceeding game but he
quickly broke Youzhny’s serve again and retook the advantage against the Russian. Rochus, who looked dead and motionless in the opening set, kept all his remaining serves and finally clinched the equalizer set with a 6-3 score line.
Rochus advanced to the decider set with full confidence and carried his winning momentum as well. He broke the Russian serve in the third game and took the lead 2-1. He then kept all his remaining serves to clinch the set with
a 6-3 win.
Overall Rochus played well as he had a higher first serve share of 64 percent as opposed to Russian’s 54 percent and he earned a plausible 66 percent win on it. He found ten breakpoint opportunities and converted four to his advantage
in this match.
World number 14, Youzhny won against the Belgian on his last duel in 2007 on Rome’s clay courts but Rochus displayed his tremendous skills in this event to overpower the Russian. The Belgian has now lowered the trail to 1-4 in
his head to head series against Youzhny.
Rochus will next face the former world number one, Swiss Roger Federer.
Currently ranked at three in the world, Federer is in his top form and has yet to lose a set. He dumped 32nd seeded Juan Monaco in straight sets to reach the pre quarters. The 29-year-old converted two out of nine breakpoint
opportunities to his advantage to win the match with a 7-6(4), 6-4 score line.
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