Bemelmans/Malisse upset Gonzalez/Lipsky to reach semis – Farmers Classic 2012
Belgian tandem, Ruben Bemelmans and Xavier Malisse, stunned the top seeded duo, Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky, in straight sets at the Farmers Classic 2012 on Thursday. They formulated a 6-3, 7-5 victory over the highest ranked team of this
tournament to book a spot in the final four at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event.
Malisse stayed on track to defend his doubles title after recording a spectacular victory against the top seeded tandem. He conquered this tournament paired up with Mark Knowles last season. However, the in-form Belgian paired up with his compatriot, Bemelmans,
this time and cruised into the semi-finals at this outdoor hard court event taking place in the campus of UCLA in California.
The Belgian junction high-spiritedly entered this Emirates Airline US Open series event. They got the coveted break in the third game and leaped to a 3-1 lead. Bemelmans and Malisse held their entire serves without encountering any hindrance and cashed in
another break chance in the last game to carve out the opener with a 6-3 success.
Bemelmans and Malisse kept momentum floating in the following set. They brushed off the lone breakpoints they faced to swipe their entire serves. The Belgians got the breakthrough in the last game and clinched the opener with a 7-5 score line.
Summing up the performance of the 40th ranked team in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Gonzalez and Lipsky clobbered a slightly lower first serve share of 57 per cent as opposed to their rivals’ 61 per cent and spilled
an equal amount of double faults. However, they failed to break their rivals’ serve and blocked only five out of eight breakpoints they faced, subsequently exiting from the tournament with disappointment.
Next up for the Belgians is the conqueror of the match between local wildcard entrants, Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, and the South African-Canadian pair, Raven Klaasen and Adil Shamasdin.
The third seeded Britons, Jamie Delgado and Ken Skupski, faced a better fortune later that day. They battled past the American-Dutch duo, James Cerretani and Igor Sijsling, in three sets to reach the quarter-finals.
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