Ryan Harrison sneaks a win against Sergiy Stakhovsky in the opening round – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
American tennis professional, Ryan Harrison, won two tie-breakers to book a spot in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open and expelled the 82nd ranked Ukrainian, Sergiy Stakhovsky. Both players put up an exciting
show of an hour and 53 minutes and the scores of 7-6(3), 7-6(5) don’t do justice to the inferior ranked Ukrainian who deserved a third set shot at least.
The opening set witnessed a very tight battle featuring no breakthroughs but a lot of close calls for both players. The Ukrainian had six opportunities to break serve but couldn’t convert even a single one of them to take a lead.
Similarly, the American tennis icon also had two opportunities to take a lead but he failed to convert the breakpoints in his favour.
In the end, the tie-breaker round witnessed an early mini-break from Harrison, featuring two timely aces. His opponent went down the tunnel and couldn’t keep up the similar standard of play. The 61st ranked American
took the opening set but with nothing at all to spare. It was just a matter of four points that made the difference in the end.
The second set witnessed a gruelling battle that stretched both players to their limits but no one gave up until the end. An early breakthrough for the Ukrainian in the fifth game hinted at a turnaround as he consolidated his position
to the scores of 5-4. He just needed to hold serve and enforce the third set into play but Harrison broke serve to keep the set alive.
Both players continued to meet blow by blow and enforced another tie-breaker round. Once again, the tempo of the play was increased with some depth shots from the American who sneaked a close triumph at the end to book a spot in
the second round of the contest.
Ryan Harrison is scheduled to meet the likes of the fourth seed French tennis ace, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the next round of the competition. Tsonga is yet to open his account at Madrid having received the first round Bye courtesy
to his superior ranking in the world.
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