Gasquet/Hanley upset Marach/Peya to reach the quarters – BNP Paribas Open 2012
French-Aussie pair of Richard Gasquet and Paul Hanley stunned the eighth seeded Austrians, Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya, in troublesome three sets at the BNP Paribas Open 2012 on Tuesday. They formulated a 6-3, 6-7(7), 11-9 score line against the Austrians
to advance into the quarter-finals at this Masters 1000 event taking place in Indian Wells.
The winning collaboration of Gasquet and Hanley remained focused throughout the match to register this stunning victory in 100 minutes. They squandered their chance of winning in straight sets after trailing in the second set tie-breaker. However, the duo
raised the bar of their game again in the final set and eventually secured a place in the final eight.
Gasquet and Hanley entered the Indian Wells Tennis Garden with poise and held their serve in the opening game. They maintained consistency in their game and swiped in remaining serves without facing any breakpoint. The French-Aussie tandem got the breakthrough
in the sixth game and eventually clinched the opener with a 6-3 score line.
The seeds re-gathered their potencies in the following set and held their opening serve to take the initial lead. Marach and Peya dusted away both breakpoints they came across to keep their entire serves. However, they failed to seek any break chance and
enforced a tie-breaker. The Austrians edged past the lower ranked team in it and equalised the set scores.
The match went to the super tie-breaker where both tandems played their best. Gasquet and Hanley clobbered a lower first serve share of 70 per cent as compared to their rivals’ 60 per cent but availed five out of seven points on it, consequently pulling
out the decider with an 11-9 win.
The unseeded French-Aussie duo will next face the local stars, John Isner and Sam Querrey. The Americans shocked the fourth seeds, Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt and Romania’s Horia Tecau, in gruelling three sets to secure this place. Isner and Querrey broke
their opponents’ serve twice and fired eight aces to manipulate a 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 score line. They clobbered almost an equal first serve share of 63 per cent and impressively clicked 33 out of 45 points on it to steal the limelight.
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