Bryan brothers outlast Granollers/Lopez to reach the quarters – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Top seeded Americans, Bob and Mike Bryan, rallied past the Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez in gruelling three sets at the BNP Paribas Open 2012 on Monday. They formulated a 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 17-15 score line against the Spaniards to advance
into the last eight at this Masters 1000 event taking place on the hard courts in Indian Wells, United States.
Bryans stayed on track to grab their 78th ATP doubles title after edging past the Spanish junction two hours and four minutes. Encountering each other for the first time, the Americans secured a spot in the quarter-finals at this ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) event.
The American twins confidently entered the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and held their entire serves after dusting away all three breakpoints they came across.
Granollers and Lopez on the other hand swiped in their entire serves without facing any real challenge, ultimately enforcing a tie-breaker. The Spaniards then outmuscled Bryans in it and clinched the opener with a 7-6(2) score line.
Ranked first in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Bryans re-focused their strategy in the following set and held their opening serve to square the scores at 1-1. The Americans held remaining serves until they drew the first blood
in the ninth game and took lead for the first time in this set. However, they failed to capitalise on their lead and gifted away their serve in the very next game, consequently levelling the scores at 5-5. The set went to a tie-breaker where the twins cruised
to a 3-0 lead before pulling out the equaliser with a 7-6(4) win.
The match went to the super tie-breaker where both teams played their best tennis. However, the higher ranked tumbled over Granollers and Lopez in the end and bagged the decider with a 17-15 victory.
Bryans warded off late resistance to dump the South African-Canadian junction of Kevin Anderson and Milos Raonic in straight sets to set-up this match.
The top seeded pair will next face the conqueror of the match between the wild card entrants, Matthew Ebden and Ryan Harrison, and the sixth seeded Poles, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
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