Bhupathi/Paes outplay Bellucci/Dodig in the quarter-final – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
Rated at number four in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Doubles Rankings, the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes registered a convincing victory over the unseeded pair of Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil and Ivan Dodig of Croatia,
in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Friday afternoon.
Being played on the outdoor hard courts of the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, the fourth seeded Indian team displayed its brilliance with the racquet yet another time. Bhupathi and Paes merely took 61 minutes of play to wrap up victory
in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, to make a place in the semi-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series 1000 event.
It was the 30th victory for Bhupathi and Paes in the doubles competitions this year, with 10 defeats already to their name. The Indians have won three doubles championship titles in the running ATP season so far and appear in a very strong position
to extend their title count in the Shanghai Masters campaign.
The contest appeared pretty one-sided right from the beginning, with the Indians dominating most of the time. Bhupathi and Paes dropped merely four points on their serve, securing 29 out of 33 first serve points in the matchup to come out as the winner.
Two break point conversions proved sufficient for the Indians to wrap up the two sets without mush difficulty from their opponents.
Bellucci and Dodig played brilliant tennis in their early round matches, upsetting the fifth seeded duo of Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in the second round but couldn’t repeat the similar feat in Friday’s matchup. Bellucci and Dodig utterly failed
to register a single serve break in the entire matchup and collected just 20 first serve points to finish on the losing side. Bhupathi and Paes registered one serve break in each set to ease their way to a comprehensive victory in style and earned a place
in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Bhupathi and Paes need to get through the second seeded belligerent pair of Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada, in the semis to get a title shot in the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Mirnyi and Nestor won their quarter-final clash against
the unseeded duo of Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Bruno Soares of Brazil, in straight set, 6-2, 6-2, to book a date with the fourth seeded duo in the semi-finals.
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