The top seed pair of Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan started their quest for the 12th tour-level crown of the season with a two setter win over Philipp Petzschner and Jurgen Melzer in Group A at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals doubles contest on Sunday. The
final score was 6-3, 7-5.
The American duo first broke serve to take a lead of 3-1 when Mike Bryan’s return caught the net and dribbled over for a winner on the final point. They intelligently confirmed the break and missed only eight points in the opening set that lasted for 27
minutes in London.
Petzschner and Jurgen, who won their first major trophy at the grass court Grand Slam event after getting the better of Lindstedt-Tecau back in July, broke serve only once to take a lead of 4-2 during the decisive set. The German-Austrian side however was
pinned back as the Bryans broke serve during the seventh and eleventh game on Petzschner’s serve.
"We played an okay match. We had break opportunities the opening set and we broke them in the second. If you lose three times your own serve, you might not beat the Bryans.” lamented Jurgen after losing on Sunday.
The American Bryans share an ideal record of 11-0 in tour-level finals in 2010. Melzer and Philipp on the other hand, were competing in their first clash as a pair since the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York back in September.
In other action, the sixth seed pair of Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg also started off their Barclays ATP World Tour Finals campaign with a two setter win over Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy on Sunday. The final score was 6-3, 7-6.
The Polish pair, who is playing in the year finale on the fourth occasion in a row, capitalised on two double faults from Dlouhy to break serve during the sixth game and thus won the opening set comfortably in the end. Neither side was able to break through
in the following set, however Fyrstenberg and Matkowski managed to seal win in the deciding tie-break in after 76 minutes of hard work.
Matkowski and Fyrstenberg arrived in England in fine form and as a result of this victory have improved their win loss mark to 36-27 in the current year. The Polish pair has made it into the finals in four of their previous six ATP World Tour championships
and captured their eleventh doubles crown in Eastbourne, beating Fleming-Skupski back in June.
Paes of India and Dlouhy from Czech Republic, on the other hand, who were making their third team showing at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals as a result of this loss, dropped down a 0-7 record.
Paes while commenting on their performance after the match said that they had few opportunities in the tie break however they did not utilise it intelligently and in the end had to pay the price for it.
Looking ahead to their next, must-win battle Lukas reflected that they will have to improve their game and play better apart from using the break points and chances on serve in order to remain in the tournament.
They are playing in their last competition as a pair as the 37-year-old Paes is set to regroup with his compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi during the start of 2011, whereas the 27-year-old Dlouhy also announced that he will participate in the opening three events
of the season, teaming up with Paul Hanley.
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