Bhupathi/Paes dump Kas/Peya in the second round of doubles – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
Rated at number four in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Doubles Rankings, the duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes from India won its match against the 12 ranked combination of Christopher Kas of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria, in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday afternoon.
The Indians received a bye to get to the second round of the tournament and registered a comprehensive straight sets victory at 6-3, 6-4, to earn a pass in the quarter-final stage of the ATP Masters Series tournament.
Kas and Peya hung in the contest for merely 66 minutes before succumbing in the second set. They failed to put up any serious resistance against the fury of their Indian opponents and let them away with a convincing victory.
Being played on the outdoor hard courts of the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, the local crowd witnessed some magnificent power hitting from Bhupathi and Paes. The Indians registered their 29th victory of the running year and the first one against Kas and Peya in doubles encounters.
The Indian duo clinched 26 out of 34 first serve points in the matchup, while their opponents followed them with 19 points. Kas and Peya registered just one break point out of their six precious chances to finish on the losing side in the end.
Bhupathi and Paes got their momentum in the sixth game of the match, breaking the opponents’ serve to lead 5-2 in the opener. Kas and Peya failed to recover from the damage done by the serve break and had no option but to submit the first set to the superior Indian opponents at 3-6.
Kas and Peya dropped their serve again in the fifth game of the second set but stung their only break point of the match in the next game to bring their opponents back on even terms. Bhupathi and Paes then delivered the final blow to Kas and Peya, breaking their serve in the seventh game again and sealing the set at 6-4 to conclude a convincing victory.
Bhupathi and Paes will face off against the Brazilian-Croatian combination of Thomaz Bellucci and Ivan Dodig in the next round to fight for a place in the final four of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Bellucci and Dodig stunned the fifth seeded duo of Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany in the second round to book a battle with the Indians in the quarter-final clash.
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