2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals: Top seeds topple as doubles action wraps up on Tuesday
It was a day full of surprises as the doubles Group A matches continued at the O2 Arena on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, in a surprising turn of events, Wimbledon champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner had denied Leander
Paes and Lukas Dlouhy an almost sure shot win. Later in the evening, Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski toppled top seeds, American Bob and Mike Bryan, moving into the pole position for the semis.
Defending champions Bryans moved down to 1-1 from an expected 2-0 when the Poles turned the tables on them enjoying a 2-6, 7-6(4), 10-8 victory. The Poles bounced back after being down one set to take the second set into a tiebreaker.
The Bryans started strong into the opener taking the lead and maintaining it to enjoy a comfortable lead of 6-2 in the first set. They maintained their form into the second set taking an early lead; however, they could not keep the momentum of the match in
their favour allowing the Poles eventually to catch up taking the second set into tiebreak. With excellent serves and well-placed returns, not to mention a few unforced errors on the Bryans part, the Poles were able to win the tiebreaker 7-4. With a one set
win each, the match entered the tiebreaker that lasted for seventeen minutes. The Poles managed to continue their form from the second set tiebreaker into the match tiebreaker taking a 3-0 lead. They then extended the lead to 8-3 with the Bryans desperately
trying to fight back. Of the next six points, the Bryans managed to win five of them bringing the tiebreaker to a 9-8. However, it seemed that the climb from 8-3 tired out the Bryans, who were unable to win another point. The Poles overpowered the Americans
at the net winning the match point. They won the match tiebreaker 10-8 and in effect the match.
This was their sixth meeting on the court this season with the Bryans winning on three previous occasions. Bryans led the career head to head with 10-5, though the Poles were able to decrease the deficit to 10-6 by breaking the
Bryan’s winning streak.
With the exception of 2007, the Poles have qualified for their fourth season finale in five years. They have made it to the semi-finals only once in 2008 where they were defeated, ironically, by the Bryans. This time around, however,
the Poles enjoy a perfect score of 2-0 having defeated Dlouhy and Paes in the opening match.
The Poles came into the event with a lone title win at Eastbourne as opposed to the flawless 11-0 final record enjoyed by the Bryans this season. The Bryans also won two Grand Slam titles this season at the Australian Open and
United States Open. The Poles, however, were not intimidated by this statistic. They brought their best to the court and with an exceptional display of tennis managed to win one over the Bryans.
The Poles next face the Wimbledon Champions, Melzer and Petzschner, on Thursday whereas the Bryans will play Dlouhy and Paes also on the same day.
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