Berankis/Malisse oust Devvarman/Huey to reach the semis – Atlanta Tennis Championships 2011
Unseeded pair of Richard Berankis of Lithuania and Xavier Malisse of Belgium won their quarter-final battle against the combination of Somdev Devvarman from India and Treat Conrad Huey of Philippines to reach the semis of Atlanta
Tennis Championships Doubles on Thursday afternoon.
Being played on the hard courts of Atlanta, the United States, the contest provided good entertainment to the local crowd, with Berankis and Malisse winning the matchup in straight sets 6-1, 7-6(5), to reach the round of four of
the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event. Devvarman and Huey fought for one hour and fourteen minutes in the competition before succumbing in the second set to let their opponents away with victory.
Like any other doubles game, Berankis and Malisse kept the rallies short and professional, converting a number of assertive winners to take the upper hand in the contest. Although their serve reached just 52 per cent in the opening
set, Berankis and Malisse secured eight first serve points in the set, with their opponents following them with just six.
Berankis and Malisse took off the opening set with commanding aggression and broke their opponents’ serve in the very first game of the match to lead 2-0. They developed great coordination among them to take full advantage of the
silly mistakes of Devvarman and Huey to get their grip stronger in the opener and kept exerting pressure upon them to submit.
Devvarman and Huey continued to cough unforced errors and their opponents capitalised by cracking in another serve break to race to 5-1, serving for the set. Berankis and Malisse served out of the first set at 6-1 to get a commanding
position in the matchup and carried on their winning impetus in the following set as well.
Both teams failed to strike a serve break in the second set and finally a tie breaker was enforced at 6-6. The decider went on neck-to-neck as well but eventually Berankis and Malisse got the mini-break they needed to wrap up victory
at 7-6(5), booking a place in the semi-finals of Atlanta Tennis Championships.
Tags: