Bhupathi/Paes edge past Gong/Li into quarterfinal – China Open 2011
Seeded at number four in the tournament, the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes registered a comprehensive straight sets victory over the unseeded Chinese pair of Maoxin Gong and Zhe Li, in the opening round of the
doubles at the China Open on Wednesday afternoon.
The contest was staged on the outdoor hard courts of the Olympic Green Tennis Center, in Beijing, China, with the Indian team wrapping up victory in three-sets, 6-2, 3-6, 10-3, taking just 69 minutes of play to make to the quarterfinals
of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
Rated at number four in the ATP World Rankings, the duo of Bhupathi and Paes were off to a flying start in the opener and absolutely demolished their opponents to get one up very quickly in the matchup. They lost their way in the
middle parts of the competition but regrouped very well in the super tie breaker round to conclude victory in the end.
It was the 28th victory for the Indian pair in the running year, with 9 defeats to its name already. Bhupathi and Paes have bagged three ATP doubles championships so far this season and are looking determined to extend
their title count in Beijing.
Gong and Li secured 25 out of 41 first serve points the game, in reply to their opponent’s 19 points, yet finishing on the losing side in the end. The fourth seeded duo converted three out of four break points en route to victory,
with Gong and Li registering two serve breaks to lose the matchup.
Both teams split the opening two sets among them, imposing a super tie breaker round into play. Bhupathi and Paes held their nerves in the game to nail some vital min-breaks to their opponents, concluding a hard-fought victory
in the end.
Bhupathi and Paes will either play against the strong Croatian duo of Marin Cilic and Ivan Ljubicic or the unseeded combination of Mark Knowles of Bahamas and Jurgen Melzer of Austria, in the quarterfinal clash on Thursday afternoon.
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