Granollers/Lopez knock out Kubot/Tipsarevic to grab title – Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2012
In the title match between two unseeded teams, the Spaniards, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, made light work of Lukasz Kubot and Janko Tipsarevic in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia doubles in Rome, Italy, on Sunday. The Spanish
tandem took just an hour and 20 minutes to topple the Polish-Serbian duo in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
Both teams made huge upsets on their way to the decisive encounter, as Granollers and Lopez stunned third seeds, Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in quarters. Kubot and Tipsarevic surprised the best team in the tennis history,
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, in twin sets 6-4, 6-4 in the last eight.
In the final, Granollers and Lopez attained lead from the beginning, capturing opening three games of the first set to move ahead 3-0. The Spaniards did not lose their serve till the end, closing it 6-3.
Ranked seventh in the world, Granollers and Lopez were lucky to win the first set, as they did not hit any ace and committed a couple of double faults. The Spaniards had a low first serve percentage of 66 and converted 15 of the
21 of them into points. They also lost six of the 11 points on the second deliveries but they succeeded in putting away all the break threats they came across and utilising the only opportunity they received.
Just like the first set, Granollers and Lopez did not take much time to go up in the second, breaking Kubot and Tipsarevic in the very first game and consolidating on it to grab a 2-0 advantage. The Spaniards hit another blow to
their opponents in the fifth and held their next serve to stretch their lead to 5-1. Granollers and Lopez allowed the Polish-Serbian combination to win only one more game and triumphed 6-2.
Granollers and Lopez drastically improved their performance on serve, as they did not commit any double fault and put in 83 percent of the first deliveries. They also pocketed 13 of the 19 first and three of the four second serve
points.
A jubilant Granollers shared, after the match, "To win the doubles with Marc is very special. He’s one of my best friends so to win with him is very nice. This year, with Marc, I think we are playing very good. We are very confident
now, we are playing very good."
This Spanish duo had also reached the title match at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell last month but went down at the hands of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
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