Daniele Bracciali and Frantisek Cermak advance to the final at Men’s Doubles – UNICEF Open 2011
The Italian Czech duo of Daniele Bracciali and Frantisek Cermak dominated in two tie-breaker sets to down Slovaks, Filip Polasek and Igor Zelenay with a straight set victory on Friday. They registered a 7-6(5), 7-6(4) win over
their rivals to float into the final at UNICEF Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event held in s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
Ranked 50th in the ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Bracciali and Frantisek are playing their second tournament together after exiting from the first round at Halle last week. They perfected their co-ordination to secure
a final spot at this grass court event after dominating in tie-breakers of this one hour and forty minute match.
Both pairs displayed their magnificent skills in the opening set and smacked the balls expertly onto the lines to hold on to their entire serves. They produced a similar first serve share of 57 percent and committed many unforced
errors.
The Italian Czech tandem committed less double faults and found seven breakpoint chances but couldn’t convert any to their advantage. As a result, the set went to tie-breaker where they prevailed and earned the glory by winning
the opener with a 7-6(5) score line.
The winning duo carried their momentum into the final set and held their opening serve comfortably. Later they exchanged a break and after keeping their entire serves, took the set to a tie-breaker.
Bracciali and Cermak found five breakpoint opportunities but converted one to their advantage. They also clobbered a much better first serve share of 64 percent as opposed to their opponents’ 48 percent and earned an amazing 83
percent win on it. However, the Italian Czech team saved one out of two breakpoints conceded and committed three double faults which led many bumps on their way to victory.
They again outmuscled their rivals, who were playing their second match of the day, in the tie-breaker to seal the set with a 7-6(4) win.
Bracciali and Cermak had a great run of form in this Wimbledon warm-up tournament. They lost one set in the opening round match but upset third seeds, Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer in straights enroute to the final.
Up next for the winning combination of the Italian and the Czech are the second seeds, Swede Robert Lindstedt and Romanian Horia Tecau, who triumphed over Dutch wild card entrants, Jesse Huta Galung and Rogier Wassen in a three
set mouth watering match.
The only seeds left in this event, Lindstedt and Tecau took seventy-eight minutes to register a 6-2, 6-7(2), 10-7 win over their opponents to reach this final spot.
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