Baghdatis/Del Potro, Bopanna/Qureshi move into semi-final – If Stockholm Open 2011
First time duo of singles stars, Marcos Baghdatis and Juan Martin Del Potro moved into the semi-final of the If Stockholm Open doubles draw on Thursday, 20th October after doing away with the higher ranked pairing of
Israelis, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.
The Cypriot Argentine tandem took only one hour and eighteen minutes to secure a straight sets 6-4, 7-5 win over the Israelis. Baghdatis and DelPo had earlier upset another higher ranked pairing of Americans, Scott Lipsky and Rajeev
Ram in the first round.
Opening serve, Baghdatis and Del Potro comfortably made themselves onto the scoreboard. A successful hold of serve from the both teams put the Argentine Cypriot duo in a 2-1 lead which they extended to 3-1 after breaking the Israelis’
serve in the fourth game. From there on the match progressed on the pair’s respective serve as the unranked team maintained their two game lead. Hoping to make a comeback in the ninth game, the Israelis broke their opponents to reduce the deficit to 4-5. However,
the spark was short lived as Baghdatis and Del Potro immediately broke back in the tenth game to clinch a 6-4 win, going one up in the set score.
Baghdatis and Del Potro hit an acceptable 69 percent on their first serve, winning an impressive 80 percent on it. With two double faults and one aces, the winning team clinched 34 of 59 points in the first serve to take the lead.
Down and out, the Israelis were broken in spirit as they trailed 1-4 in the second set. However, bouncing back they matched blow for blow as they reeled off four straight games to bring the score to five games each. Losing no points
in the eleventh game, the Argentine Cypriot duo held their serve before breaking the Israelis in the twelfth to clinch a 7-5 win, sealing their straight sets victory.
The winning duo now moves on ahead to face the top seeded pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in the final four of the event. The Indo Pak express registered a straight, yet not so simple, sets victory over Germans,
Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske, in their quarterfinal match here. In a match that lasted almost ninety minutes, the Indo Pak express hit a resounding total of thirteen aces with no double faults, converting a total of two of six breakpoint opportunities
to register a 7-6(5), 7-5 win.
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