Bracciali/ Cermak struggle past Lindstedt/ Tecau to clinch title win – UNICEF Open 2011
The Italian Czech duo of Daniele Bracciali and Frantisek Cermak stunned second seeds, Swede Robert Lindstedt and Romanian Horia Tecau in a gruelling three setter match at Men’s Doubles – UNICEF Open 2011, a Wimbledon warm-up tournament
held in s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. They registered a 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 victory over the defending champions to triumph the title on Sunday.
The unseeded pair of Bracciali and Cermak displayed superb tennis and pinged the balls expertly onto the lines to down the higher ranked pair in seventy minutes to win the title at this ATP World Tour 250 series event.
The Italian Czech tandem committed four double faults and many unforced errors. They also lost their serve once but the high spirited pair then raised their level of game as they broke Lindstedt and Tecau’s serve’s twice to bag
the opener with a 6-3 score line. Bracciali and Cermak produced a slightly lower first serve share of 63 percent as compared to their rivals’ 67 percent but they registered a spectacular 82 percent win on it.
The seeds got back on track in the second set as they smoothly held on to their entire serves and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to clinch the equaliser with an assuring 6-2 win. They clobbered
a much better first serve share of 74 percent as opposed to their opponents’ 67 percent and earned an exceptional 93 percent win on it. In addition to this, the pair committed less double faults and unforced errors and smacked two aces to win comfortably.
The match went on to super tie-breaker where the 47th ranked pair of Bracciali and Cermak completely outplayed their rivals, ranked 39 places above them. They produced a much higher first serve share of 67 percent as
compared to Swede Romanian tandem’s 33 percent and they also registered a perfect win on it.
"Every match on grass is close. So I'm very happy that we managed to win this one today," reflected Cermak.
The in-form pair captured their first ATP World Tour title in just their second tournament together. They lost in the opening round at Halle before entering this grass court tournament with a new strategy. Bracciali and Cermak
were successful as they dropped one set on their route to final. They also stunned third seeds, American Eric Butorac and Curacao Jean-Julien Rojer in straight sets in the quarter-finals of this event.
"This is only the second tournament that we've played together," said Bracciali. "We played a very good week and beat tough opponents today in the final."
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