Erlich/Ram dispose of Brunstrom/Nieminen in second round – PTT Thailand Open 2011
Seeded at number two in the doubles draw, the Israeli duo of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram registered a comprehensive victory against the combination of Johan Brunstrom of Sweden and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, in the opening round
of the PTT Thailand Open on Thursday afternoon.
The Israeli pair took just 62 minutes of play to wrap up a straight sets victory at 6-3, 6-2, to make it to the quarterfinal round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
The competition was played on the indoor hard courts of the Impact Arena, in Bangkok, Thailand, with the Erlich and Ram displaying their brilliant combined skills to outplay their opponent in an assertive manner. Brunstrom and
Nieminen appeared no match to the fury of the second seeded duo and crumbled under the pressure to let them away with victory.
Brunstrom and Nieminen equally matched their opponents in terms of bagging first serve points, as the two pairs pocketed 22 out of 31 points each in the game. However, they utterly failed to register a single serve break in the
entire matchup and squandered away four vital opportunities to finish on the losing side in the end.
Erlich and Ram kept aggressive strategy throughout the matchup and never let their opponents to come on top of the game. The second seeded pair converted three of their six break opportunities in the matchup to come out as the
winner. They drew the first blood in the sixth game of the match to lead 5-2 in the opening set. Erlich and Ram dropped just four points on their serve in the opener and held their lead to conclude the set at 6-3.
The Israelis continued with their demolition job in the following set as well, breaking Brunstrom and Nieminen in the third game to lead 3-1 again. Their opponents frittered away two more break chances in the ser and Erlich and
Ram nailed a decisive break point in the seventh game to finish the contest in their favour at 6-2.
Erlich and Ram will take on the German duo of Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske in the next round to fight for a place in the semi-finals of the PTT Thailand Open. The Germans registered victory against the pair of Ashley Fisher
and Frank Moser in the opening round to meet the second seeded duo in the quarterfinals.
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