Gstaad: Top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny began his Swiss Open title defense by beating Kenny De Schepper of France 6-3, 6-4 in a second-round match on Thursday.
The 19th-ranked Russian forced a single service break in each set and denied De Schepper any chances to break back. The French left-hander sent down seven aces but had six double faults.
In the quarter-finals on Friday, Youzhny faces the player he beat in the title match last year, Robin Haase of the Netherlands.
Seventh-seeded Haase had a tougher time in the Swiss mountains beating local wild card Henri Laaksonen 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.
Leading 5-3 in the decider, Haase had his serve broken then wasted three match points in Laaksonen's next service game. Haase finally clinched the match on an error by the 319th-ranked Swiss.
Another wild card, Viktor Troicki of Serbia, eased into the last eight with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan.
Troicki is playing his first event after serving a one-year suspension for a doping rules violation, which left him ranked No. 847.
Troicki next plays fourth-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain or 78th-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. Their match was tied at 3-6, 6-3, 1-1 when rain suspended play.
Comments
0 comment