Youzhny Defeated in Gstaad; Rain Allows Play in Umag; Top Four Seeds Alive at LA Open
July 30, 2010 · Print This Article
Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad—Switzerland
Top seed Mikhail Youzhny was bounced from the quarterfinal stage of the Allianz Suisse Open on Friday by qualifier Yuri Schukin, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
Needing two hours and 13 minutes to advance, Schukin continued his dream march this week by winning 70 percent of his first serve points, while breaking Youzhny’s serve on 3 of 12 occasions. Entering Gstaad with a 1-1 record on the season, Schukin recorded the biggest win of his career, while reaching his first career semifinal.
Ranked No. 147 in the world, Schukin also upset recent Hamburg champ and countryman Andrey Golubev in the first-round. Schukin will next face either No. 4 seed Albert Montanes or No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet.
Elsewhere, Daniel Gimeno-Traver needed two clean cut sets to defeat Igor Andreev 6-2, 6-4. Reaching his second Tour semifinal post-Wimbledon, Gimeno-Traver needed a mere one hour and 13 minutes to advance to the final four, and will next face either No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro or struggling Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
ATP Studena Croatia Open—Umag
A complete whip out of Thursday’s action in Umag meant that Friday’s order of play would include double duty for many of the main draw players.
Wasting little time in reaching the quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Jurgen Melzer, and unseeded Italians Andreas Seppi and Potito Starace all won their second-round matches in straight sets. Melzer blitzed past Jan Hajek 6-1, 6-0, Seppi plowed through Oliver Rochus 6-4, 6-2, and Starace was far too good for Bjorn Phau, defeating the German 6-4, 6-0.
The lone competitive second-round contest featured Ivan Ljubicic defeating fellow Croat Ivan Dodig 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Needing two hours and 31 minutes to advance, Ljubicic pounded six aces while using his backhand down-the-line to dominate the third-set.
Advancing to his fifth career semifinal in Umag, Ljubicic will next face Starace for a place in the final four.
The day’s remaining two quarterfinal matches will feature:
No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko vs. No. 8 seed Juan Ignacio Chela, and No. 6 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. No. 4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Farmers Classic—Los Angeles, California
Friday’s action on the campus of UCLA will be highlighted by the top four seeds at the event.
Struggling through his first match post-Wimbledon, Andy Murray will be adamant on putting aside a “stiff back” and moving onto the semifinals with a victory over Alejandro Falla. Subsequent to Murray’s struggles in defeating Tim Smyczek during Thursday’s action, Falla was also tested during his second-round match against Ernests Gulbis. Prevailing in a third-set tiebreak after needing five match points to advance, Falla continued to display the form that almost saw him defeat Roger Federer during the first-round at Wimbledon.
Murary and Falla have never played on the ATP World Tour.
Elsewhere, No. 2 seed and defending champ Sam Querrey will face former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler, No. 3 seed Marcos Baghdatis will battle No. 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic, and No. 4 seed Feliciano Lopez will take on former finalist James Blake.
For updated scores from all of today’s matches, click the live-scores section at the top of the page, or for live streaming of today’s action, click here.
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