Granollers/Lopez overcome Bhupathi/Zimonjic to reach last four – Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell 2012
Unseeded duo of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez surprised third seeds, Mahesh Bhupathi and Nenad Zimonjic, 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 in the quarter-final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in Spain on Friday.
Granollers and Lopez did not take much time to move ahead, breaking the Indian-Serbian tandem in the third game of the first set but they were unable to consolidate on it, losing their serve and equalising the score at 2-2. The
Spaniards struck again in the seventh game but Bhupathi and Zimonjic bounced back once again to even it out at 5-5. However, Granollers and Lopez claimed two successive games after that, closing it 7-5.
The Spanish duo hit 72 percent of the first serves and grabbed 14 of the 23 points on them in the opener. Granollers and Lopez could not perform well on the second deliveries, as they lost six of the nine points on them but compensated
for it by winning seven of the nine on the second returns.
In the second set, both teams held their serves in the first five games to take the score to 3-2 in favour of Bhupathi and Zimonjic. The Indian-Serbian combination broke Granollers and Lopez in the sixth game to move
ahead 4-2 but the Spaniards hit back immediately to reduce the deficit to 3-4. Though, the effort of Granollers and Lopez got wasted, as the Indian-Serbian duo captured two in a row to win 6-3.
Bhupathi and Zimonjic fired a couple of aces and 76 percent of the first deliveries, converting 13 of the 22 of them into points. The Indian-Serbian duo snatched most of the points on the second serves and returns, winning five
of the seven and four of the five on them respectively.
Granollers/Lopez and Bhupathi/Zimonjic did not allow each other to take lead in the first half of the match tie-breaker, as they levelled the score at 5-5. However, the Spaniards played brilliantly after that, claiming five straight
points to seal it 10-5.
Ranked 10th in the world, Granollers and Lopez did not lose even a single point on the first serves and second returns, grabbing all the four and three on them respectively. They took an hour and 36 minutes to complete
the win.
The Spanish pair is slated to meet eighth seeds, Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya, in the semi-final. Marach and Peya entered the last four, as Bob and Mike Bryan withdrew due to illness.
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