Sergiy Stakhovsky and Mikhail Youzhny upset third seeds to advance to quarters in Monaco
Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky and Russian Mikhail Youzhny trashed third seeded pair of Austrian Jugen Melzer and German Philipp Petzschner in straight sets on Tuesday. They registered a 6-1, 7-6(6) win over the seeds to advance to quarter-finals of the 2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Ranked 13th in the ATP World Tour Men’s Doubles rankings, Stakhovsky and Youzhny are in good shape this season and had a 6-3 win loss record so far. They entered the tournament with a bang and downed wild card entrants, Monacans Guillaume Couillard and Jean-Rene Lisnard, in straight sets in the first round.
The winning combination of Ukrainian and the Russian displayed their magnificent skills in the opening set as they held their entire serves spectacularly. Though they had a lower first serve share of 65 percent as compared to their rival’s 87 percent, but they earned an amazing 87 percent win on it. Through their awesome co-ordination, Stakhovsky and Youzhny saved all three breakpoints they faced and converted both breakpoint opportunities to their advantage to earn a breadstick.
The raging pair carried their winning momentum to the second set and held their opening serve plausibly. They had an acceptable first serve share this time and registered an assuring 62 percent win on it. Stakhovsky and Youzhny then converted two out of five breakpoint opportunities to their advantage but they lost their serve twice and took the match to tiebreaker where they prevailed and clinched the set with a 7-6(6) win.
5th ranked pair of Melzer and Petzschner on the other hand was in great shape and reached semi-finals recently in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. But they exited from this tournament in their opening match after playing poorly in the first set. They had a 11 – 4 win loss record but in this match they failed to capitalize on their higher first serve share. They converted two out of six breakpoint opportunities to their advantage but could only save three out of seven breakpoints they faced.
The Ukrainian Russian tandem will next face the winners of the match between 8th seeds, Swede Robert Lindstedt and Romanian Horia Tecau, and Brazilian Argentinean pair of Bruno Soares and Juan Ignacio Chela.
Another seeds were ousted on the other court later that day. Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo upset 7th seeded pair of French Michal Llodra and French Nenad Zimonjic by converting five out of nine breakpoint opportunities to their advantage to clinch the match with a 6-2, 6-1 win.
Tags: