Bryans edge past Granollers/Lopez into the third round – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Bob and Mike Bryan saved four match points to beat the Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez in three sets 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 17-15, in the second round at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, USA on Monday.
The twins played the longest match tie-break of their career and toppled their opponents after a nail biting contest of two hours and four minutes.
Both teams failed in breaking serve in the first set, levelling the score at 6-6 to force a tie-breaker. Granollers and Lopez allowed the best team in the history of tennis to win just two points, sealing it 7-6(2).
The Spaniards smacked three aces and clinched an impressive 18 of the 21 first serve points. The singles specialists could not convert any of the three break chances they got but at the same time they did not provide the Americans
any opportunity.
Bryans and the Spaniards held their serves in the first eight games of the second set to square off the score at 4-4. The twins claimed a breakthrough in the ninth game but were unable to serve out the set in the tenth, levelling
the score at 5-5. Both teams grabbed their next two serves to take the set to a tie-breaker. This time Bryans raced to a 3-0 lead and capitalised on it to win 7-6(4).
Granollers and Lopez did quite well on the first serve, pounding eight aces. However, they were pretty ordinary on the second ones, winning just three of the eight points on them.
Bryans got off to a best possible start in the match tie-break, building a 5-1 lead. However, they could not sustain it, as Granollers and Lopez fought back to equalise the score at 8-8. They went neck to neck after that, with
both teams getting multiple chances to seal the match. In the end, the twins managed to grab two points in a row, bagging it 17-15.
Bob said, commenting on the marathon tie-breaker, “Any time you go 17-15, it adds a few inches to the vertical.”
Praising their opponents, Mike said, “We hung around. I thought they played great.
The 33-year-old said, thanking local supporters, “It feels almost like a Davis Cup match at home. So I think we definitely couldn't have pulled that out without them.”
Bryans will meet either Australian/American combination of Matthew Ebden and Ryan Harrison or Polish pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the third round.
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