Granollers/Lopez oust Marray/Nielsen to enter title-round – Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2012
Spanish duo, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, triumphed over the eighth seeds, Great Britain’s Jonathan Marray and Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen, in straight sets at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2012 on Sunday. They nudged up a 6-4, 6-3 victory against
their rivals to power into the final showdown at this season-ending event taking place in London, England.
Seeded sixth in this event, Granollers and Lopez showed exceptional co-ordination to outclass the British-Denmark pair in their second encounter. After earning the fame in one hour and 17 minutes, the Spaniards not only avenged their loss at the Wimbledon
Championships earlier this circuit but also levelled the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals Head 2 Head Series by 1-1 against Marray and Nielsen.
Bidding for their third year-to-date title, Granollers and Lopez made a comfortable entry at The O2 Arena. They showed brilliant defensive skills and warded off all seven breakpoints they came across to keep their entire serves. The Spaniards cashed the
lone break chance in the third game and clicked the opener with a 6-4 win.
Ranked sixth in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Granollers and Lopez lost their path towards the following set. They lost their serve twice and went 1-2 down. However, the Spaniards not only levelled the scores in the fourth game
but got the breakthrough in the eighth game, eventually sealing the set by winning six games to three.
Granollers and Lopez are the first Spanish team to compete at the season-ending finale since Sergio Casal and Emilio Sanchez in 1994.
They will square off against the Indian junction of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in the final round.
“We wouldn’t mind a few more weeks on tour,” said the beaming Bhupathi after they conquer the Indo-Czech duo. “We have got one match to go and [after we] get back into focus, after celebrating for the next two hours. We’d like to finish with the title here.”
Bhupathi and Bopanna brushed off a match point to stun the third seeds, India’s Leander Paes and Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek. They lost their serve once but cashed two out of five break chances to manipulate a 4-6, 6-1, 12-10 victory.
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