Dolgopolov/Malisse defeat Federer/Wawrinka to win Maiden ATP Doubles title
First-time pairing Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and Xavier Malisse of Belgium defeated Star Swiss team Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka in a nail-biting three setter at the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens in Indian Wells, California, to claim the BNP Paribas
Open 2011 Doubles title. The duo, who have been on a giant killing spree as of late, took out the Olympic Gold medalists 6-4, 6-7, 10-7 to claim their first title as a team.
This year’s BNP Paribas Open saw a very talented doubles field participate. All the world’s best singles players were featured here, including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Nadal and his partner were defeated in the semis by Federer and Wawrinka,
while Murray and his brother were defeated by Dolgopolov/Tipsarevic in their run to the title.
Federer and Wawrinka were favored to take the title here, thanks to their status as Olympic Champions, but the underdogs took control of the match from the start. The Swiss duo got a remarkable 83 per cent of their first serves in, but was unable to capitalize
on the serving as they could only manage to take 59 per cent of their points on serve. Their opponents only managed to land in 48 per cent of their first serves, but were excellent in conversion, winning 72 per cent of their on-serve points. This gave them
6 chances to break, two of which they converted to take the set 6-4.
The second set saw the more celebrated team start a fight back. They could not manage to land in as many of their serves this time, only 61 per cent, but were much better at converting serves to points, winning 71 per cent of their total service points.
They were also excellent at returning this time round, but could not manage to win any breaks. In the tie-break though, the two went ballistic to seal the affair 7-5 and to send the match into tie-break.
Dolgopolov and Malisse might’ve been under pressure going in, but they showed no visible signs of it. Blow after blow was traded between the teams, but no one gave an inch. After 14 points however, the underdogs were able to string three points together
and held of the Swiss challenge to take the match 10-7.
With this title, Dolgopolov has proved himself an able doubles player as well. Malisse is a veteran at this form of the game, and from what is evident so far, the two have a long way to go in the sport. This pairing looks good though, and will definitely
be something the two will continue for a while yet.
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