Viktor Troicki overcomes Mikhail Youzhny to get through to round two – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012
Ranked 32nd in the world, Viktor Troicki of Serbia survived a meltdown in the second set to dismiss the 30th ranked contender from Russia, Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the opening round of the Shanghai
Rolex Masters.
The Serbian number three took one hour and 57 minutes to undo his rival in a close contest.
Troicki did not take much time to move ahead, breaking his Russian opponent in the very first game and holding his following serve to take a 2-0 lead. The Serbian national struck again in the ninth to capture it 6-3.
Youzhny gave the same response at the start of the second set, hitting a blow to Troicki in the opening game and consolidating on it to attain a 2-0 lead. The Russian player stung another break in the seventh and capitalised on
the double advantage to win 6-2.
In contrast to the first two sets, Youzhny and Troicki succeeded in holding their serve in the first two games to level the proceedings at 1-1. The Russian star went up by hitting a blow to Troicki in the third and winning his
subsequent serve to take the score to 3-1. Though, the Serbian fought back to even it out at 3-3. The following three games went with serve, taking the proceedings to 5-4 in favour of Troicki. Youzhny faltered under pressure at that moment and failed to hold,
going down 4-6.
Troicki inflicted most of the damage on his opponent with the help of his huge first serves, bombarding 15 aces. The Serbian made a couple of double faults and kept his first delivery percentage at 58. The 6ft 4in tall player gave
a weak performance on his second serves and first returns, as he won just 18 of the 38 and 18 of the 51 points on them respectively. The right-hander amazingly put away eight of the 11 break threats he came across and utilised four of the eight opportunities
he created in the match.
The Belgrade, Serbia resident will face his compatriot, Janko Tipsarevic, in the second round. Seeded sixth in the draw, Tipsarevic received a bye in the opener.
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