Aljaz Bedene out of Indian Wells Masters after losing to Mikhail Youzhny
Sunday 13 March 2016 11:26, UK
British No 2 Aljaz Bedene crashed out of the Indian Wells Masters after a 5-7 6-2 3-6 defeat to Russia's Mikhail Youzhny.
in one of the first matches on court, Bedene started impressively and was a break in front before losing the first set to Youzhny, a two-time US Open semi-finalist trying to reignite his career after two years in the wilderness.
The Russian is back into the world's top 100, but British number two Bedene is ranked at 51 and showed all those skills in a dominant second set to level the match.
Bedene spent last week as a hitting partner for the British Davis Cup team and is hoping to be granted permission to play for his adopted country at an International Tennis Federation board hearing later this month.
And it was Bedene who looked in cruise control in the decider, snatching an early break to seize the initiative before Youzhny roared back into the match with some fine groundstrokes.
Having led 2-0 in the decider, Bedene won only one more game and despite a late flurry from the 26-year-old as Youzhny served for the match, it was the man from Moscow who prevailed in just over 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Youzhny goes though to face Roberto Bautista-Agut in the second round - the Spaniard has won twice on tour this year and is seeded 14th in California.
Elsewhere, German teenager Alexander Zverev chalked up a notable victory over Croata's Ivan Dodig - the 18-year coming from a set down to win 3-6 7-5 6-3 and set up a mouthwatering meeting with Grigor Dimitrov in round two.
Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin also won through in the early matches, coming through for a comfortable 7-6 6-2 victory over Spain's Daniel Munoz de la Nava - next up will be Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori.
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