Yen-Hsun Lu, Alexander Kudryavtsev move into semi-final – Ningbo Challenger 2011
Top ranked Taiwanese and the top seed, Yen-Hsun Lu moved into the semi-final of the 2011 Ningbo Challenger on Friday, 16th September after doing away with Brit Joshua Milton.
Riding the local support, Lu took a total of seventy two minutes as he did away with the lower ranked Brit in straight sets securing a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
As Milton won the toss, he opted to serve and successfully put himself on the scoreboard followed closely by Lu. However, things heated up in the next instant as the pair exchanged a pair of breakpoints, though the score ticked
on even terms. The scoreboard mellowed down from there on for a while as it remained tied for the next four games. Desperate to shine in front of the home crowd, Lu capitalised on the Brit’s errant strokes to secure a break point opportunity before serving
out the set at 5-4, going one up in the set score.
Hitting two aces, two double faults and seventy one percent win on a seventy percent first serve, Lu was able to clinch a 6-4 victory to take an edge over his opponent.
As he rode this edge into the second set, Lu took his performance a notch higher. As he hit three aces with no double faults and an improved, near perfect 92 percent first serve win, Lu rode two breakpoint opportunities to a 6-2
victory, sealing his straight sets victory and a berth in the semi-final of the event.
Lu moves on ahead to face Russian Alexander Kudryavtsev in the semi-final on Saturday, 17th September
The Russian, seeded third in the event, secured his berth after doing away with the seventh seeded German, Dominik Meffert. Kudryavtsev took a little over eighty minutes to clinch a simple 6-4, 6-2 victory over the German.
Stupendous in his performance, the Russian hit seven aces, four double faults, a 67 percent win on his similar first serve as he went on converting five of six breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to secure a straight sets
victory over his lower ranked opponent.
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