Sergiy Stakhovsky takes down Kei Nishikori in the second round – French Open 2011
World number 36, Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine wins his encounter against the 59th ranked Japanese opponent, Kei Nishikori, in the second round of Roland Garros in Paris, France on Wednesday. The Ukrainian competitor
took two hours and forty eight minutes to outplay Nishikori 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), booking a berth in the third round of the Grand Slam event.
It was the first time these men faced each other one-on-one but Stakhovsky took very less time to get his eye in the game and eventually came out as the winner. The Ukrainian had a ballistic start to the contest and absolutely
devastated Nishikori in the opener to get the early lead. The Japanese back fired at him in the very next set to level the game at 1-1 but failed to sustain the momentum and fell apart in the later parts of the matchup.
The Japanese competitor conceded 46 unforced errors, including seven costly double faults, which eventually wore him out in the contest. Stakhovsky fully capitalised upon the weakness baseline defence of Nishikori and cracked in
41 winners to leave the Japanese stunned in the game.
The Ukrainian delivered 61 per cent of his first serve on target and reeled off 50 out of 69 points on it to get edge over his rival. He crafted 12 break chances in the entire contest and converted five of them en route to victory,
while Nishikori cashed in three of five break points in the match.
Stakhovsky followed an aggressive approach right from the first minute and broke into 3-0 lead early in the opener. Nishikori finally held serve in the opening set but his opponent stung his second serve break to leave him answerless
at 1-6. The Japanese regrouped quickly to bounce back and clinched the second set at 6-3 to bring the match on event terms.
Another momentum swing took place in the following set, as Stakhovsky powered his way back in the contest, striking a serve break to seal the third set at 6-3. The Ukrainian inched closer to victory but the Japanese gave him a
tough time before losing the contest to him. After an exchange of serve breaks from both competitors, the fourth set entered a tie breaker round and Stakhovsky eventually concluded victory at 7-6-(3), to make it to the third round of Roland Garros. He will
take on the world number seven from Spain, David Ferrer, who defeated Julien Benneteau of France in the second round.
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