• Home
• /
• Tennis

Youzhny sends Russia into the quarter-finals

Mikhail Youzhny eased Russia into the Davis Cup quarter-finals here on Sunday when he beat Somdev Devvarman of India in straight sets to give his side an unassailable 3-1 lead.

The 27-year-old Youzhny won 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 in one hour 54 minutes in what was his first ever meeting with Devvarman, who is 128^th in the ATP rankings.

‘It wasn’t as easy as the scoreline may suggest,’ Youzhny said. ‘It was much easier for me in the first two sets. I won many points with drop shots as he (Devvarman) was not running well.

‘But in the third I got a bit tired and made too many mistakes. Luckily everything ended well for us.’

Youzhny, currently 13^th in the world, looked in complete command from the start breaking his 25-year-old rival’s serve twice to gain a one-set lead in 33 minutes.

In the second Youzhny underlined his domination producing three more breaks to make it two sets to zero after one hour two minutes.

In the third Youzhny lost concentration and made several unforced errors but nevertheless managed to break once again to win the set and the match and clinch the last eight slot.

On Friday, Russia took a comfortable 2-0 lead as Igor Kunitsyn battled back from a set down to beat Devvarman 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-4, while Youzhny beat Rohan Bopanna 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

India reduced the arrears on Saturday, when veteran doubles pairing Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati won the doubles clash against Kunitsyn and Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

In July’s quarter-finals Russia will take on either Argentina or Sweden.