Coming back to the game was already a huge achievement for Mardy Fish. The former world no.7 was seeking a better comeback, but he got a bit unlucky for a rain delay.
Mardy was 1 set up again Michael Russel when the rain interrupted the match. When the two players came back, Russell had a much better start to win the second set 6-2 and then battle through a tough decider 7-5.
From Russel
Ranked world no.85, Michael Russell admitted the rain was a good help for him to say “He played really well. He was coming up with 130 mph serves. I couldn’t tell. Usually when somebody takes four months off, they’re a little rusty. But it was really good tennis.”
“The rain delay definitely helped me a little bit. I was able to change my string tension. I was pleased with the rain delay.”
Next With Giraldo
Russel will play Santiago Giraldo in the next round. Head to head is 4-1 for Giraldo. Details.
