Kafelnikov’s countryman, Mikhail Youzhny, has been defeated by Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the first round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012. Troicki won the match by 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
There was not much difference between the world rankings of both the players. So, the match was expected to be a close one and that’s what it actually turned out to be. Both the players fought hard, but, Troicki played a bit better than Youzhny in the final set and pulled off the victory. He won the match in 1 hour and 57 minutes and knocked Youzhny out of the tournament.
In the post match interview, Troicki said, “It’s obviously good to end up on the winning side, but, I think I could have played a bit better. In the second set, I wasted many opportunities. I didn’t play my forehand shots fluently and I need to work a bit on it.”
Troicki was off to a fantastic start in the match. He broke Youzhny’s service in the very first game of the first set and then, held his service in the second game to make the score 2-0. Both the players held their service in the next six games and the score was 5-3 in the favour of Troicki at the end of the eighth game. In the ninth game, Youzhny didn’t manage to hold his service. His service was broken and he lost the first set by 3-6.
In the second set, Youzhny raised the standard of his game. He broke Troicki’s service twice in the first seven games and he was ahead by 5-2 at the end of the seventh game. He held his service in the eighth game and won the second set by 6-2.
But, Youzhny’s performance again deteriorated in the third set. His service was broken in the third game and he was trailed by 1-3 at the end of the fourth game.
Youzhny managed to level the scores by sneaking a breakthrough in the 6th game. There were no breakthroughs in the next three games and the score was 5-4 in the favour of Troicki at the end of the ninth game. The Serbian player broke Youzhny’s service in the tenth game and wrapped up the match.
In the second round, Troicki will take on his countryman Janko Tipsarevic.