Cermak/Polasek outplay Malisse/Norman to clinch the title – BMW Open 2012
Top seed competitors, Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek, did a tremendous job to topple the Belgians, Xavier Malisse and d**k Norman, in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 in the BMW Open final. The tournament was being held at the clay courts of Munich in Germany.
It took Cermak and Polasek just an hour and 17 minutes to beat Malisse and Norman.
In the first set, both teams held their serve in the first six games to equalise the score at 3-3. Cermak and Polasek snatched a break in the seventh and capitalised on it to triumph 6-4.
The Czech-Slovak tandem neither hit an ace nor committed any double fault but they kept their first serve percentage at 62, converting 14 of the 16 of them into points in the opener. They won six of the 10 points on second deliveries and second returns. Cermak and Polasek did not provide any break chance to the Belgian duo and availed one of the four of their own.
Cermak/Polasek and Malisse/Norman swapped a break in the first two games of the second set, taking the score to 2-2. The following six went with the serve, evening it out at 5-5. The Czech-Slovakian pair hit the decisive blow in the 11th game and consolidated on it to win 7-5.
Ranked 12th in the world, Cermak and Polasek smacked a single ace and the same number of double fault. The Czech-Slovak combination converted 14 of the 20 first and seven of the 10 second serves into points. They put pressure on Malisse and Norman by reply aggressively to their second deliveries, capturing eight of the 14 points on them in the second set.
Talking to the reporters after the match, Polasek said, "The conditions were very tough. It was raining since the first point until the last one. We were laughing because last year, we won the Belgrade tournament the same week and it was exactly the same conditions. We won it as well. There were a lot of similarities, so we were very happy to finish it in two sets. We lost a couple first rounds recently, so we're happy we made a strong result here.”
Cermak added, "I feel good. It's an unbelievable feeling. This is the first tournament I won since my daughter was born, so I'm very happy.”
The Czech-Slovak duo grabbed their fourth team title on the ATP World Tour, improving to a 4-4 win/loss record in the finals.
Tags: