Granollers/Lopez shock Llodra/Zimonjic to reach semis – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
Local stars, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, upset the third seeds, France’s Michael Llodra and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic, in straight sets at the Mutua Madrid Open 2012 on Thursday. They nudged up a 6-4, 6-4 victory against their opponents to cruise into
the last four at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event taking place in Madrid, Spain.
Crowd favourite, Granollers and Lopez, displayed perfect co-ordination to stun the French-Serbian pair in 69 minutes. Encountering each other for the first time, the Spaniards convincingly not only secured a spot in the semi-finals but also stayed on track
to bid for their maiden career title together at this blue clay court event.
Granollers and Lopez high-spiritedly entered Park Manzanares and swiped in their opening serve to level the scores at 1-1. They maintained consistency in their game and not only kept their remaining serves without encountering any barrier but got the coveted
break in the fifth game to bag the opener with a 6-4 win.
The high-spirited Spaniards kept momentum rolling into the following set and swiftly slid their entire serves without facing any breakpoint. They cashed in the lone break chance in the ninth game and clinched the set with a 6-4 score line.
Summing up the underdogs performance, Granollers and Lopez clobbered a better first serve share of 77 per cent as compared to their rivals’ 67 per cent and spectacularly clicked 30 out of 36 points on it. They also sought five break opportunities and finished
the deal by bagging 54 points.
Next challenge for the Spaniards is the sixth seeded junction, Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau.
Later that day, the Pakistani-Dutch junction of Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer, jolted down the top seeded Americans, Bob and Mike Bryans, in three sets.
The unseeded collaboration, who claimed their first title together last week at the Estoril Open, lost the opening set after losing their serve once. However, they made an epic comeback and pulled out the equaliser with a single break of serve. Qureshi and
Rojer edged past the American twins in the super tie-breaker and consequently clicked the match with a 4-6, 6-4, 18-16 success.
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