2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Matkowski/ Fyrstenberg make their way into semis
The Polish tandem of Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg advanced into the semifinal round of the 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday after getting the better of Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in two sets. The final match score was
6-3, 7-6(7).
It was their third victory in a row at the elite eight team field in London, which also places them on top with a perfect record of 3-0 in Group A, with the defending champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan enjoying second position, with a mark of 2-1.
Marcin and Fyrstenberg, who are playing at the prestigious event in London on the fourth occasion in their career, are through to the semi-finals for the second time, having previously reached that stage in Shanghai back in 2008 before losing at the hands
of the number one duo of Bryan brothers in straights sets.
Matkowski after their third round robin clash victory at the World Tour Finals on Thursday reflected, “Overall, we are glad we won and completed the group with a 3-0 mark. If anyone told us before the competition we would be top of the group we would be
delighted. Hopefully we can win two more matches”.
Earlier in the day, the top seed Bryans also cruised past Dlouhy and Paes in straight sets to reach the final four in London.
As the match started, a double fault from Philipp during the fourth game of the opening set proved costly in the end as the Polish side took full advantage and broke through and maintained their lead till the end.
They endured a total of two doubles faults during the ninth game. However, they prevented the two break point chances they faced to clinch a one set lead on Thursday.
Fighting for pride in the decisive set, Jurgen and Philipp showed some determination by taking a quick lead of 2-0. However, Fyrstenberg and Matkowski took no time to quickly bounce back into the match and regained control by breaking serve on two occasions
during the third and seventh games to take a lead of 5-3.
However, on the final deuce point during the tenth game, which also served as both a clash point for the Polish side and a break point for Jurgen-Philipp, Matkowski fired a double fault to bring the German- Austrian tandem back into the battle.
Jurgen and Philipp won set points at 6-5 and 7-6 in the tie breaker before the Polish pair converted their second match point opportunity as Matkowski smashed a forehand return at a disappointing Petzschner after eighty-three minutes of play.
“We did not play as well as before, however, we took our opportunities and that was the major factor. They did not fight like a typical doubles side, who cross the net consistently, so we simply waited for our chances. We battled well in the opening set
and were strong on our serves. We knew before we went out we required to win the opening set. The decisive set was a little sloppy on our side”, said the sixth seed Polish side after the match on Thursday.
Both the players earned their spot at the World Tour Finals in London after an impressive performance at the BNP Paribas Masters Men’s doubles competition in Bercy. They posted the best result of the season by winning a title in Eastbourne back in June apart
from their four runners up efforts in a row at Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Vienna and Shanghai in 2010.
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