Mardy Fish slays Denis Istomin to cruise into the third round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Tenth seeded American Mardy Fish dumped Uzbek Denis Istomin in straight sets to advance into the third round of the Wimbledon Championships 2011, a major grass court tournament held in London, England. He fended off early fight
back by the 24-year-old Uzbek to register a 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-4 victory on Wednesday after a long delay due to autumnal conditions.
29-year-old American put up a solid display of tennis to earn a straight set victory against Istomin to secure a third round spot for the fourth time. However, both veterans had to wait three and half hours due to heavy rain before
their match could start.
Ranked 9th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Fish was nervy and uncomfortable in the start of the opening set as he lost his serve in third game.
Istomin, ranked 65, pushed Nadal to a three setter match at Queens last year. However, now he has a disastrous ongoing season. The Uzbek won two matches back to back at San Jose this year and was standing on a four match losing
streak before snapping out from it in this Grand Slam event. He downed German Philipp Kohlschreiber in four sets to reach this spot.
Fish, on the other hand, has had a great run of form this year after making semi-final berths at Memphis, Delray Beach and Miami. He also reached quarter-final at Houston and became the number one American in April. The American
is now at his career high rank at number nine.
The Minnesota native was serving at 2-4 when he found his rhythm and broke Istomin’s serve in the eighth game to square the scores at 4-4.
Both players played their best tennis to keep their remaining serves. As a result, the set went to a tie-breaker where the American prevailed to clinch the opener with a 7-6(6) win in almost an hour.
He carried his momentum into the second set and earned the desiderated serve in the very first game to take the lead. Fish then held on to his remaining serves by saving four breakpoints conceded to seal the second set with a 6-4
score line in forty minutes.
The high spirited American glided into the final set as he reeled off entire serves and converted one out of two breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to bag the set with a 6-4 win again in thirty-seven minutes.
Up next for Fish is the number one Dutch, Robin Haase who upset twenty-one seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in a four set thriller to reach this spot.
Tags: