Gordey Kosenko, Olga Lipkina clear Mixed Doubles pre quarter-finals of Russia Open 2012
Gordey Kosenko and Olga Lipkina snatched a quarter-final seat from Artiom Derbenev-Makkoveeva Polina by stamping them in the first round of Russia Open Grand Prix on June 28, 2012.
This opening match was resolved in just 21 minutes when both teams left the court after putting 21-16 and 21-16 margin on the board.
Both compatriot duos entertained local crowd with commendable craft which kept them intact until the last moment.
The victorious Russian duo will be up against another local team Evgenij Dremin-Svetlana Korotisheva in quarter-finals of the home event.
Gordey Kosenko and Olga Lipkina will surely apply their vital experience of opening round to secure the honour of being in the semi-final round.
Earlier, they alarmed all the contestants by registering a straight sets victory against Artiom-Makkoveeva.
They launched a flurry of masterly crafted strokes straight away in the beginning of the first set and confined their challengers in rear court.
They showed their intentions by snatching five consecutive points in the beginning and then transformed this lead into a mountainous total of 11-7 before the interval.
After half time, they lost focus for short span of time but did not remain at lower side permanently.
They reinstated their dominance by piling up 15-10 margin and this five-point advantage played a vital role in their successful run.
Artiom and Makkoveeva could not lift burden of this deficit and knelt down after reading decisive figure of 21-16.
The twosome of Gordey Kosenko and Olga Lipkina managed to go with same flow in second set of the match as they wrapped this stage of the game with similar score.
Though, they blundered after gaining an early advantage but did not allow their competitors to capitalise on this opportunity.
In the first half, both contenders were standing at same level of 6-6 when four uninterrupted rallies took Gordey-Olga to a dominating position of 10-6 before the break.
Later part of the game saw them employing unusual tactics as many times they pushed their opponents on the back-foot with some power packed smashes and then grabbed vital points with refined net play.
They maintained an upper hand until last shot was played and finished this race with final result of 21-16.
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