Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2010: Doubles Match Preview - Lukas/Leander versus Petzschner/Melzer
The third seed pair of Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes will meet the seventh seed duo of Philipp Petzschner and Jurgen Melzer in the second doubles clash at the 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday. Lukas and Leander lead Philipp and Melzer in their
overall head to head series at 1-0, though they did surrender a love set in their only three setter victory on the tour.
Leander-Indian and Lukas-Czech made their way into the season finale at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London on the third occasion in a row. They have so far played in a total of sixteen competitions as a pair. The Indian-Czech tandem captured just
a single crown apart from their four title battle appearances in 2010.
Lukas along with Leander started off their 2010 campaign by competing at the Brisbane International. They did well to reach the finals before falling to Chardy-Gicquel in straight sets. They next played in the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian
Open in Melbourne and finished as quarterfinalists in the end to Karlovic-Vemic.
A month later, the third seed duo made way into their second final of the season in Dubai where they were eventually toppled by Aspelin-Hanley. The Indian-Czech pair, despite losing on the second occasion in one month in the finals, did not lose hope and
went on to win the title at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Miami. They brushed aside Bhupathi-Mirnyi in straight sets in the final to pick up their first crown in 2010.
After posting the title victory, Lukas and Paes couldn’t continue their form as they suffered consecutive opening round defeats in the next three tournaments on the tour in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Rome before turning things around with a semi final appearance
in Madrid. Just a few weeks later, they also advanced into the final in Paris, losing to Nestor-Zimonjic in straight sets.
On grass, the pair reached the final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch before facing a second round exit at Wimbledon. During the summer hard court season, they once again lost form and as a result couldn’t even win their opening match at the year’s final major, the United
States Open in New York.
Lukas and Paes did not play together afterwards until this month at the BNP Paribas Masters Men’s doubles competition in Bercy where they finished as quarterfinalists in the end. Paes, however, competed in two other events in between.
The German-Austrian pair of Petzschner and Melzer, on the other hand, is playing in London on the first occasion in their careers.
In their first year together, Melzer and Petzschner made their way into the season finale as a result of winning their biggest crown at Wimbledon. They, despite finishing at number twelve in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings, qualified for the prestigious London
event by virtue of their Wimbledon win.
Seeded number seven to win the title in London, the tandem lifted their first trophy of the year back in February at Zagreb. They got the better of Clement-Olivier Rochus in the final in straight sets. The pair however could not carry on their form and were
bundled out in the opening round in the next two tournaments before title win at the All England Club.
They did well to win the five setter epic in the semi final round at Wimbledon versus Moodie-Norman, and then dismissed Lindstedt-Tecau in the final in straight sets. The duo paired up just on five occasions for the rest of the summer as Petzschner injured
his ankle back in September in a league battle in Germany and was sidelined for almost two months.
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