David Ferrer Powers past Youzhny; Tipsarevic To Face Almagro

Written by: Staff on 2nd June 2012

David Ferrer Powers past Youzhny; Tipsarevic To Face Almagro

epa03246032 David Ferrer of Spain returns to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia during their third round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 02 June 2012. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA |

World No. 6 David Ferrer was in impressive form Saturday as he dismissed Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the Roland Garros fourth round. The Spaniard reeled off the first eight games of the match before Youzhny registered on the scoreboard. He capitalised on 39 unforced errors from Youzhny to score his 36th win of the season.

“I think I managed to keep my focus throughout the match,” said Ferrer. “It was very important to start well, and I had to start attacking and play very high balls. I managed to keep my focus throughout the match, and all the points were good for me. I’m very satisfied.”

The 30-year-old Ferrer has never been past the quarter-finals at the clay-court Grand Slam, but has been one of the leading players on this surface in 2012. The Valencia resident has compiled a 24-4 mark on clay, taking in titles in Buenos Aires (d. Almagro) and Acapulco (d. Verdasco); he also reached the final in Barcelona (l. to Nadal).

Ferrer goes onto face either countryman, Marcel Granollers, or French wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu.

“For me I will try to focus with only the next match against Granollers or Mathieu,” said Ferrer. “I don’t want to think about if I will win Roland Garros, if I will do semi-final, quarter-final. For me, the most important [thing] is the next match.”

Eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic reached the fourth round in Paris for the first time after beating France’s Julien Benneteau 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier. The Serbian fired 16 aces and 50 winners as he wrapped up victory in two hours and 35 minutes.

“I was focused, and I was fighting from the first point on for every point until the end of the match,” Tipsarevic said. “That’s the main reason why I managed to finish in straight sets.”

The 27-year-old Tipsarevic is on a seven-match winning streak, having prepared for Roland Garros by leading Serbia to victory at the Power Horse World Team Cup in Dusseldorf. He also had a strong showing in Madrid last month, beating World No. 1 Novak Djokovic en route to the semi-finals (l. to Federer).

Tipsarevic next faces Spanish No. 12 seed Nicolas Almagro, who breezed past Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes. Almagro is yet to drop a set in his three matches at Roland Garros and came in on the back of his second clay-court title of the season in Nice (d. Baker).

The Spaniard is a two-time quarter-finalist at Roland Garros, which is his best showing at a major tournament.

Topics: 10sballs.com, almagro, David Ferrer, FrenchOpen 2012, Mikhail Youzhny, Roland Garros, Russian tennis news., Serbian tennis news, Spanish tennis news, Tipsarevic