Yuri Schukin defeats Mikhail Youzhny to move into semi-final – Czech Open Challenger 2011
Kazak tennis-pro Yuri Schukin battled past Russian Mikhail Youzhny 1-6, 4-1 retd to book his place in the semi-final of 2011 Czech Open in Czech Republic.
Youzhny made a destructive start to the match. Serving with great pace, he put his opponent under extreme pressure right from the word go. Breaking the challenger twice in the opening set and holding on to his service games, the
Russian raced to 5-1 lead in the set. He smashed a gorgeous forehand winner down the line to set up a couple of set points for him and then converted the very first one with a clever chip shot to take the set score lead 1-0.
The Russian looked on course to a solid victory before he felt pain in his leg at the start of the second set. Looking very uncomfortable on the court, Youzhny made a number of unforced errors and struggled to get to the ball.
Schukin took full advantage of the situation and broke the Russian to take a reasonable 4-1 lead in the set.
Struggling with his foot work, Youzhny decided not to continue after consulting his personal trainer. It was a disappointing end for the Russian considering the way he was dominating the contest. Schukin on the other hand should
consider him extremely lucky as he was on a brink of defeat. He will face Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic in the semi-final who eased past Italian Andreas Seppi.
In another quarterfinal at the Challengers tournament, Spaniard Daniel Munoz De La Nava earned a hard fought 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 victory over Victor Estrella to keep his campaign alive.
Estrella tennis-pro started off quite positively and broke the serve at regular intervals in the opening set. Looking confident about his game, Nava smashed his ferocious forehand and backhand winner all over the court and made
his opponent’s game plan look very ineffective. Converting a long rally in his favour, he pocketed the opener 7-5.
The Spaniard made a strong come back in the second set. Although he was broken in the second game of the set, the 30-year-old kept his focus on the game and broke back twice to shift the balance of the match. He smashed a big forehand
winner down the line to even the set score 1-1.
Nava continued to display some high quality tennis in the final set as well breaking the serve at regular intervals. A double fault from Esterlla provided the Spaniard with a couple of match points and he converted the first one
to seal an emphatic victory. His semi-final opponent will be Flavio Cipolla who overcame Evgeny Korolev 6-4, 2-0 retd.
Tags: