With his two-set win over Michael Russell on Wednesday afternoon, Kevin Anderson is one step closer to winning his second ATP World Tour title. Anderson dispatched Russell 6-1, 7-5 in his first action of the Atlanta Tennis Championships at Racquet Club of the South in Norcross.
Anderson entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed, receiving a bye in the first round. He wasted little time jumping in front of Russell early in the second-round match.
“I had a bit of a fight in the second set, and he picked up his game a lot,” Anderson said. “From the time I broke back in the second, I picked it up nicely, and there were a few positives that came out of the second set.”
Russell took an early 2-1 game lead in the second set, but Anderson would even the score at five-all after 10 games.
Russell advanced to face Anderson after handily defeating Donald Young of Atlanta 6-0, 6-3 in two sets Monday.
Anderson holds the top South African ranking and the No. 34 overall world ranking. In February, he won his first ATP World Tour title, beating Somdev Devvarman in three sets to take the final championship match. Devvarman also is playing in the Atlanta Tennis Championships, but the two won’t have a chance for a rematch unless they both advance to Sunday’s championship match.
“I learned a lot from playing higher ranked opponents last year,” Anderson said. “I feel I’m at a point now where I have a lot more belief and confidence in my game regardless of who is on the other side of the net.”
Muller beats Ginepri
Robby Ginepri of Marietta and Gilles Muller battled back and forth in the first set, and Ginepri took a one-game advantage, 6-5. Muller then won two consecutive games to take the first set, 7-6(6). Ginepri took control of the second set, winning 6-2. Muller won the third set 6-2.
“I felt like the first two sets, I didn’t play my type of game,” Muller said. “In the third set, I just told myself to be more aggressive and take some more risks.”
Muller will face Anderson in the quarterfinals.
Lu tops Matosevic
As Muller and Ginepri played on the Stadium Court, Marinko Matosevic and Yen-Hsun Lu played nearby on Court 1. Matosevic won the first set 6-3, but the tables quickly turned in the second set. Lu won that set 6-1. With that momentum, Lu was able to take the third set 6-2.
Doubles play
In Wednesday’s first doubles action, Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser rallied to defeat Ryan Harrison and Young in three sets. The German team lost the first set 6-4, but edged Harrison and Young in each of the next two sets, winning 7-6(3) and 10-6 to take the match.
Harrison and Young were a wild-card entry into doubles play. After losing his singles match to Russell on Monday 6-0 and 6-3, Young is out of the tournament. His doubles partner, Harrison, defeated Yuichi Sugita in his first-round match and will face four-seed Xavier Malisse in second-round action.
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