Cermak/Polasek down Cilic/Dodig in the quarter-final – German Tennis Championships 2011
Fourth seeded duo of Frantisek Cermak of Czech Republic and Filip Polasek of Slovakia won the quarter-final battle against the Croatian pair of Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig at International German Open on Thursday.
Being played at the Am Rothenbaum in Hamburg, Germany, the contest featured a brilliant game of clay-court tennis from the fourth seeded team, who set the final scores at 7-6(6), 6-1, to reach the semi-finals of the ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
The Croats played a brilliant game in their last match but utterly failed to replicate that performance this time round in the quarter-final. Cilic and Dodig hung in the matchup for just one hour and twenty six minutes before succumbing
to the fourth seeded duo in straight sets. They posed some stiff resistance in the opening set but proved to be a wall of sand in the second set, in which they held serve in just one game.
A hard-fought opener was seen, with both teams toiling to get the better of one another and went on neck-to-neck in the set. Cermak and Polasek adopted an aggressive strategy right from the start of the first set, securing 19 first
serve points but their opponents closely followed them by reeling off 17 points to remain competitive in the game.
None of the pairs succeeded in registering a serve in the opening set and kept the score board ticking on even terms. Cilic and Dodig had three break opportunities in the opener but they frittered away all the three chances to
remain at a disadvantage in the matchup. A tie breaker round was eventually called in the game, with the scores dead locking at 6-6. The decider also witnessed intense tennis from both sides but a timely mini-break from Cermak and Polasek sealed the first
set in their name at 7-6(6) to give them a one-set lead.
Dejected Croatians went through a terrible slump in the next set, dropping serve twice in a row to trail 0-4. Cermak and Polasek kept attacking their crumbling opponents and a third break point conversion in the seventh game proved
to be the last nail in the Croatians’ coffin, ending the match for the fourth seeded duo at 6-1.
Cermak and Polasek will move in to the semis of German Tennis Championships, where they will face off against the combination of Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic, for a place in the final of the
tournament.
Tags: