Bracciali/ Gonzalez dump Hanescu/ Moser to reach the final – Bet-At-Home Cup 2011
Fourth seeds, Italy’s Daniele Bracciali and Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez, eased past Romanian German pair of Victor Hanescu and Frank Moser in straight sets at the Bet-At-Home Cup 2011, a clay court tournament held in Kitzbuhel,
Austria. They registered a 6-3, 6-4 victory over their rivals to advance into the final on Friday.
Ranked 119th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Bracciali and Gonzalez trashed their unseeded opponents in straight sets at the Tennis stadium Kitzbuhel. It took seventy-three minutes for the
seeds to overpower the Romanian German tandem on their first meeting.
The Italian Mexican duo confidently entered the clay courts and held their entire serves through their amazing co-ordination. They fended off the only breakpoint conceded and converted one out of five breakpoint opportunities to
their advantage in the second last game to clinch the set by winning six games to three.
The higher ranked pair coughed more double faults and produced a poor first serve share of 43 percent as compared to Hanescu and Moser’s 68 percent. However, they earned a tremendous 85 percent win on it and capitalised on one
out of five breakpoint opportunities to their advantage.
Bracciali and Gonzalez kept their momentum sailing into the final set and earned two critical breaks to take a 5-2 lead. Despite losing their serve in the eighth game, the raging duo held their serve once more in the tenth game
to seal the set with a 6-4 win.
The more experienced duo again produced a poor first serve share of 44 percent as opposed to their opponents’ 63 percent but they registered a perfect win on it. The Italian Mexican team warded off one out of two breakpoints faced
and converted two out of three breakpoint chances to their advantage to win comfortably.
Bracciali and Gonzalez are in great form as they made a semi0final berth at Croatia Open in Umag last week. They are bidding for the first title together and both are aiming for their second titles of the season. Bracciali clinched
at s-Hertogenbosch and Gonzalez triumphed at Barcelona.
The winning combination of Bracciali and Gonzalez will face the Brazilians, Franco Ferreiro and Andre Sa who battled past Russian Spaniard tandem of Igor Andreev and Daniel Gimeno-Traver in brutal three sets to reach this final
spot.
The Brazilians prevailed in the opening set tie-breaker but suffered a 6-7(3) defeat in the second set to equalise the scores. However, Ferreiro and Sa dominated in the super tie-breaker to seal the match with a 7-6(5), 6-7(3),
12-10 victory in two hours and nine minutes.
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