Cabal/Farah edge past Brands/Krawietz into the last eight – BMW Open 2012
Colombian duo of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah came back from a one-set deficit to beat Daniel Brands and Kevin Krawietz of Germany 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 in the opening round at the BMW Open in Munich, Germany on Wednesday. The
fourth seeds took an hour and 25 minutes to topple the wild card entrants.
Cabal and Farah drew the first blood, as they snatched a break in the fourth game of the first set to take a 3-1 lead. The Colombians could not consolidate on it, losing two in a row to level the score at 3-3. Both teams went neck-to-neck
in the next four games to take it to 5-5 but Brands and Krawietz grabbed two consecutive games after that to win 7-5.
The Germans gave mixed performance on the serves, as they did not hit any ace and committed three double faults. Brands and Krawietz maintained a very good first delivery conversion rate, winning 16 of the 19 points but fared poorly
on the second ones, losing 12 of the 18.
Brands/Krawietz and Cabal/Farah did not allow each other to break in the first four games of the second set, equalising the score at 2-2. The Colombians then showed their mighty play, as they struck twice and captured four in a
row, closing it 6-2.
Cabal and Farah were too good on serves, as they smacked one ace and 84 percent of the first deliveries, pocketing incredibly 13 of the 16 points on them. The Colombians were flawless on the second serves, winning all the three
on them. Ranked 29th in the world rankings, Cabal and Farah did not give any break chance to their opponents and availed both of their own in the second set.
The Colombian tandem handled the pressure better than Brands and Krawietz in the crunch situation, hitting a number of volley winners and racing to a 6-3 advantage. Cabal and Farah did not allow their less experienced opponents
to curtail the lead and sealed it 10-7.
The right-hander, Cabal and Farah, amazed the spectators by delivering 100 percent of the first serves and clinching all the nine points on them in the match tie-breaker. The Colombian duo was unable to win any point on the first
returns but succeeded in grabbing one of the three on the second ones to claim victory.
Cabal and Farah will play another German team of Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser in the quarter-final.
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