Fleming/Hutchins overcome Mertinak/Sa to claim title – Delray Beach International Tennis Championships 2012
Third seeds, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, captured their first doubles title of the season, as they edged past Slovakian-Brazilian duo of Michal Mertinak and Andre Sa 2-6, 7-6(5), 15-13 in the final at the Delray Beach International
Tennis Championships in Florida, USA on Sunday.
Mertinak and Sa were looking formidable at the start of the match. The Slovakian-Brazilian team made initial breakthrough in the third game of the match, consolidating on it to claim a 3-1 lead. Mertinak and Sa played aggressively
and won last two games to win the set 6-2.
The Slovakian-Brazilian combination was flawless on the first serves, as they did not lose even a single point on it. Mertinak and Sa fired one ace and clinched all the 13 points on them. Though, they were inconsistent on the second
serve, committing two double faults and converting just three of them.
Fleming/Hutchins and Mertinak/Sa broke each other two times in the first eight games of the second set to equalise the score at 4-4. They held their serves in the rest of the set to force a tie-breaker. Fleming and Hutchins grabbed
a late mini-break and captured it 7-6(5).
The basic reason behind Mertinak and Sa’s loss in the second set was the aggravation of the their second serves. They hit a horrible four double faults and managed to win just five of the 14 points on them. While, Fleming and Hutchins
smacked a couple of aces and 74 percent of the first serves.
Mertinak/Sa and Fleming/Hutchins fought fiercely in the match tie-break. They went neck to neck till 10-10. The Brits save a match points at 10-11 and handled the pressure better than their opponents to seal it 15-13.
The Brits took an hour and 58 minutes to overpower Mertinak and Sa in a nail biting contest.
Talking to the reporters during the post match press conference, Fleming said, “It was like an emotional rollercoaster really. We managed to come up with big points when we needed them today."
The Brit tweeted last night, “Get in there! Absolute battle today and came back from the brink but feels great to win the title. Going for a celebratory dinner in Miami before flying to Indian Wells tomorrow.
Hutchins said, while praising his partner, "Colin always amazingly makes these shots and he keeps saying he’s lucky, but it’s not, and he did that again today."
This was Fleming and Hutchin’s second team title. The British duo won their maiden crown at the St. Petersburg Open last year
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