Cilic/Melo upsets Peya/Soares to enter semis – BNP Paribas Masters 2012
Croatian-Brazilian tandem, Marin Cilic and Marcelo Melo, bounced back to shock the eighth seeds, Austria’s Alexander Peya and Brazil’s Bruno Soares, in a three-set nail-biter at the BNP Paribas Masters 2012 on Friday. They summed up a 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 victory
against the seeds to progress into the semi-finals at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy taking place from 27th October to 4th November in France.
The Croatian-Brazilian made a disastrous start at this indoor hard court event. However, they remained focused and ultimately carved out the victory in almost one and a half hour. As a result, Cilic and Melo moved a step closer towards their maiden career
title together.
The 14th ranked doubles team, Peya and Soares made a convincing entry at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event. They swiftly swiped his entire serves without encountering any barrier. The Austrian-Brazilian junction
got the breakthrough after one out of six break chances and clicked the opener with a 6-4 win.
Cilic and Melo re-focused their strategy in the following set. They dropped their serve once but after breaking their rivals’ serve twice, the Croatian-Brazilian pair pulled out the equaliser with a 6-4 score line. They dusted away one out of two breakpoints
they came across and cashed half of the four break chances to get back in contention.
Ranked 34th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Cilic and Melo carry their rhythm in the final set or the super tie-breaker. They dominated in it and consequently pocketed the decider with a 10-7 success.
On the whole, the Croatian-Brazilian collaboration struck three aces and clobbered a slightly higher first serve share of 66 per cent as compared to their rivals’ 64 per cent. They also impressively marked 31 out of 43 points on it and ended the match with
58 points.
Next challenge for Cilic and Melo are the seventh seeds, Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Netherlands’ Jean-Julien Rojer. The Pakistani-Dutch junction stunned second seeds, Belarus’ Max Mirnyi and Canada’s Daniel Nestor, in straight sets in one hour and
15 minutes. They required a single break of serve in each set to formulate a 6-3, 6-4 victory in their first encounter.
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