Fleming/Hutchins rallies past Kunitsyn/Russell in the quarters – Atlanta Tennis Championships 2011
Seeded at number four in the tournament, the pair of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins from the Great Britain stood victorious against the combination of Igor Kunitsyn from Russia and Michael Craig Russell from the United States,
in the quarter-finals of Atlanta Tennis Championships on Thursday.
The contest took place on the hard courts of Atlanta, the United States, with the fourth seeded British duo winning comprehensively in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, to book a berth in the semi-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis
Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
Kunitsyn and Russell proved easy rival to take down for the Britons, who took merely one hour and four minutes to wrap up victory in the second set, ejecting them from the event with the utmost ease. They both failed to develop
a good coordination among themselves right from the beginning and kept playing errant strokes all over the court to give easy opportunities to their opponents in the game.
Fleming and Hutchins were off to a flyer in the opening set and stung a serve break in the very first game of the match to lead 2-0. They reeled 9 out of 16 first serve points, with Kunitsyn and Russell also collected the similar
number of points in the opener. Fleming and Hutchins cracked in their second serve break of the day in the third game to race away to 4-0, getting a commanding position in the first set and kept their opponents under pressure with their aggressive game play.
Kunitsyn and Russell finally registered a break point towards the end of the opening set but it came way too late, as the fourth seeded British pair nailed a third serve break to close out the opener at 6-3. Kunitsyn and Russell
squandered away three break chances in the first set to remain on the back foot in the contest.
Things exacerbated for Kunitsyn and Russell in the next set, as they dropped their serve early once more to trail 1-3. Three double faults from them gave some un-fought points to Fleming and Hutchins, who carried on with their
impetus to record another serve break to inch closer to victory. The fourth seeded duo eventually marked an end to the contest on the most assertive note, finishing the second set at 6-1 to qualify for the semi-final draws of Atlanta Tennis Championships.
Fleming and Hutchins will face the winner of the match between the American pair of Drake Bernstein and Kevin King and the German duo of Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser in the semi-final clash.
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