Bhupathi/Bopanna crush Benneteau/Mannarino to enter quarters – BNP Paribas Masters 2012
Fifth seeded Indians, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, devastated the local wild card entrants, Julien Benneteau and Adrian Mannarino, with a bagel at the BNP Paribas Masters 2012 on Thursday. They jolted down a 6-0, 6-4 victory against the Frenchmen to
secure a spot in the quarter-finals at the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event held in Paris Bercy, France.
The Indian junction barely sweated in the opening set and eventually carved out the victory in straight sets in their first encounter. After stealing the spotlight in 48 minutes, Bhupathi and Bopanna cruised into the last eight at this indoor hard court
event.
Bhupathi and Bopanna went out of control after entering the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. They unleashed barrage of groundstrokes and winded up all six games consecutively. The Indians were never challenged with any breakpoint and cashed three out of
four break chances to carve out the opener with a bagel.
Currently ranked eighth in the race to London, Bhupathi and Bopanna kept momentum sailing towards the proceeding set. They got the breakthrough in the third game and jumped to a 3-1 lead. The Indians held their composure and swiped their remaining serves,
consequently clicking the equaliser with a 6-4 win. They brushed off the only breakpoint they came across and cashed the lone break opportunity to steal the show.
Summing up the seeds’ performance, Bhupathi and Bopanna struck six aces and produced a better first serve share of 73 per cent as compared to their rivals’ 61 per cent. They also amazingly marked 27 out of 33 points on it and sought five break opportunities
to prevail. The Indians finished the deal with 56 points and progressed at this event.
Up next for the Indian duo are the fourth seeded Poles, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. The Polish power hit back to outclass the British collaboration, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, in a three-set mouth-watering match in one hour and 15 minutes.
The seventh seeds, Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Netherlands’ Jean-Julien Rojer, will accompany the Indians in the final eight. With a single break of serve, the Pakistani-Dutch tandem overpowered the Spanish-Serbian pair, Feliciano Lopez and Nenad
Zimonjic, in a three-set thriller to progress.
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