Brunstrom/Nielsen, Mahut/Zovko qualify for semi-final – Open Castilla y Leon 2011 CH
Second seeded pair of Johan Brunstrom of Sweden and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark registered a comprehensive victory over the unseeded duo of Ruben Bemelmans from Belgium and Igor Sijsling of Netherlands in the quarter-final matchup
of Open Castilla y Leon on Thursday afternoon.
The tournament is a part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour and is being played on the hard courts of Segovia, Spain.
Brunstrom and Nielsen made a terrific pair in the game and took just 46 minutes of play to wrap up straight sets victory at 6-3, 6-2, to make it into the semis of the tournament. The second seeded duo beat their opponents in every
segment of the game and their serve remained unbroken throughout the match. Bemelmans and Sijsling had just one break opportunity in the contest but they squandered it away and suffered three from their opponents.
The second seeded pair had a brilliant start to the contest and stung a serve break right away to bag the opening set at 6-3. Brunstrom and Nielsen continued with their belligerence in the following set as well and broke immediately
to race to a 3-0 lead in the set. Bemelmans and Sijsling failed to withstand the fury of their opponents and a second serve break sealed the contest for Brunstrom and Nielsen at 6-2, getting them through to the semi-finals of the tournament.
Brunstrom and Nielsen will now take on the fourth seeded combination of Adrian Menendez and Andreas Siljestrom in the semi-finals of Open Castilla y Leon for a place in the final.
The third seeded team of Nicolas Mahut from France and Lovro Zovko from Croatia also made it to the semis of the tournament after outplaying the local duo of Pablo Carreno-Busta and Gerard Granollers in the quarter-final round
on Thursday as well.
Mahut and Zovko had a tough fight with their opponents but finally managed to manoeuvre their way to victory in the three-set thriller 7-6(2), 4-6, 10-5, taking one hour and thirty five minutes of play. The third seeded duo took
the opening set tie breaker to get the early advantage in the matchup but let the Spaniards bounce back in the second set to level the matchup at one-all.
A decisive third set was enforced and Mahut and Zovko took the better of their opponents to register victory at 10-5, moving in the semis to meet the other Spanish pair of Roberto Bautista-Agut and Ivan Navarro for a spot in the
final.
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