Fleming/Hutchins oust Dlouhy/Mahut to reach quarters – BB&T Atlanta Open 2012
Top seeded Britons, Colin Flemings and Ross Hutchins, eased past the Czech-French tandem, Lukas Dlouhy and Nicolas Mahut, in straight sets at the BB&T Atlanta Open 2012 on Thursday. They formulated a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory against their rivals to secure a place
in the final eight at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event taking place in Johns Creek, United States.
The British duo displayed amazing co-ordination to overpower Dlouhy and Mahut in their first encounter. After earning the glory in one hour and 19 minutes, they not only booked a spot in the quarter-finals but also inched closer towards their third year-to-date
title.
Flemings and Hutchins made a sloppy entry at the Atlantic Station and suffered the first blow in the opening game to trail at 0-2. However, they stayed in the game and held their following serves with poise. The higher ranked team recovered in the 10th
game after cashing in the lone break chance and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. They cruised to a 4-1 lead in it before carving out the opener with a 7-6(2) score line.
Ranked 13th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Fleming and Hutchins kept momentum rolling towards the follow-up set and after breaking their rivals’ serve twice, they leaped to a 4-1 lead. Apart from losing their serve
in the sixth game, the Britons broke again and eventually sealed the deal with a 6-2 win.
All in all, the Britons clobbered a slightly higher first serve share of 61 per cent as opposed to their rival’s 59 per cent and superbly marked 31 out of 36 points on it. The spilled more double faults but clinched the match with 65 points.
Next in line for top seeds is the Russian-Luxembourgian team, Alex Bogomolov and Gilles Muller, who rallied past local wildcard entrants, Steve Johnson and Jack Sock, in three sets to set up this meeting. Bogomolov and Muller lost their serve four times
but cashed in three out of 12 break chances, ultimately registering a 7-6(2), 4-6, 10-7 score line in one hour and 35 minutes.
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