Ryan Harrison battles past Richard Berankis into 2nd round – Farmers Classic 2011
Eager to qualify for the 2nd round, Ryan Harrison of USA played his first round Farmers Classic match against Richard Berankis of Lithuania in a 3 setter match at the LA Tennis Centre. The match was played on hard circuit
with a huge crowd in support of the local player. The breath taking match lasted 2 hours and 13 minutes as Ryan Harrison swirled to a 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Comparing the two is a bit hard as both players are young and agile. Their rankings are not much different as both recline near each other. Ryan Harrison has a current ranking of world No.94. The American has presently enjoying
the best of his career starting from 2007. The 19-year-old is one of those players who had his dad against him in a final match. The American young gun has won 6 of his last ten games that certainly helped him beat his rival in the 1st rounder.
On the other hand, Richard is the former world No.73. However, his present ranking has dropped down to world No.118. The right handed Lithuanian gave in his best to beat the American 19-year-old but could not really pull it off
so well. This loss decreased his number of wins from 4 to 3 in the past 10 matches.
However, the Lithuanian had previously played against Ryan four times and succeeded in all of them. However, this time the youngster nicked away the 1strounder and his first ever win against the Lithuanian.
The match started off with an electrifying first set turning into a tiebreaker. Ryan lost even though he was one point up against 42 of the Lithuanian that including 29 service points and 13 returners. Incredible as it may seem,
the 19-year-old even smashed 6 aces but lost 7-6(4).
However, the turnaround for the Lithuanian was yet to come. The American world No. 94 proved to be worthy of his better ranking and ousted Richard winning the set 7-5. With 22 service points and 16 returners, Ryan bagged the set
totalling 38 points to level the scores to 1-1.
The third came even easier that the first two sets for the American. Winning 2 breakpoints and an ace, he took away the set totalling 27 points that included 16 service and 11 return points. The set ended up as the score card
read 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-3 in favour of Ryan Harrison.
The 19-year-old now sits in the 2nd round of the Farmers Classic to play against Michael Russell.
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