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10/19/09 4:41 PM | Ricky Dimon
Mikhail Youzhny kicks off his Moscow campaign with a straight-set win over Horacio Zeballos. Youzhny is joined in the second round by Pablo Cuevas, who eased past Yen-Hsun Lu.
(3) Mikhail Youzhny d. Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 7-6(5)
Youzhny took care of his first-round match at the Kremlin Cup on Monday afternoon, ousting Zeballos in one hour and 27 minutes. For a while it looked like the third-seeded Russian could even race through it less than an hour, as he lost just a single game in the opening set. Youzhny won all 11 of his first-serve points and lost a total of only two service points in the entire set.
The the world No. 30 continued to serve well in the second, but Zeballos improved his performance in every aspect. Two breaks--one each--were exchanged en route to a tiebreaker, at which point Youzhny's experience and more impressive hard-court game finally put away a battling opponent. Youzhny earned an early mini-break and consolidated it the rest of the way. Zeballos saved two match points at 3-6 and 4-6 with big serves and forehands, but Youzhny blasted a service winner at 6-5 to close out the proceedings. The victor finished with eight aces and one double-fault while serving at 74 percent.
(5) Pablo Cuevas d. Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4, 6-2
Cuevas has been making a living on the clay-court Challenger circuit, but aggressive hard-court tactics paid off for him on Monday in Moscow. The No. 5 seed needed exactly one hour to roll over Lu in straight sets and set up a second-round meeting with Teimuraz Gabashvili. Cuevas fired five aces in the first set and never faced a break point, after which Lu completely went away in the second frame of play. Lu won a dismal one of nine second-serve points and double-faulted three times.
Cuevas finished with nine aces while serving at 80 percent. The 52nd-ranked Uruguayan was especially lethal in the return game, however, feasting on his opponent's second offerings to the tune of winning 15 of those 23 points. He also capitalized on all three of his break-point opportunities.
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