YOUZHNY FIGHTS THROUGH

Kafelnikov’s countryman, Mikhail Youzhny, has defeated Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the first round of the Rogers Cup. He won the match in the straight sets by 6-1, 7-6(3) and cruised to the second round. However, Youzhny had to toil hard to win the match and the South African player gave him tough fight in the second set. Youzhny held his nerves during the final moments of the match and knocked the South African player out of the tournament.

Anderson started the match very well and broke the service of Youzhny in the very first game of the match. This was a wakeup call for the Russian player. He didn’t give Anderson any chance after that. He broke Anderson’s service thrice in the first set and won 6 games in a row to win the first set easily by 6-1. The South African player showed a bit of resistance in the second set and made Youzhny work hard for his points. Youzhny got a breakthrough in the third game of the second set and held his service in the next game to make the score 3-1. In the next three games, both the players held their service and the score was 4-3 at the end of the seventh game. Anderson broke Youzhny’s service in the eighth game and the scores were levelled at 4-4. There was no breakthrough after that and the set went into the tie breaker. Youzhny held his nerves in the tie breaker and won the second set by 7-6. Youzhny smashed 10 aces in the match.

In the second round, Youzhny will play against Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.  Tipsarevic has got a bye in the first round.  So, he would start his campaign by playing in the second round match directly.