Granollers/Lopez stomp over Chela/Monaco in opening round – Valencia Open 2011
Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez overpowered Argentineans Juan Ignacio Chela and Juan Monaco by prevailing in the final set tie-breaker at the Valencia Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 500 series event taking place at
Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, Spain. They registered a 6-4, 7-6(2) score line over the Argentineans to advanced into the quarter-finals on Monday.
The Spaniards, ranked thirty-two in the ATP World Tour Doubles, took almost one and half hour to tumble over Chela and Monaco collaboration, placed forty-eight spot below them, on their first meeting.
Granollers and Lopez made quick in-roads after getting the first blood in the second game. Regardless of losing their edge and dominance in the fifth game, the Spaniards converted another breakpoint opportunity to their advantage
in the last game to clinch the opener with a 6-4 score line.
They failed to defend the only breakpoint came across but cashed in both breakpoint opportunities to their advantage to win comfortably. In addition to this, the higher ranked pair manifested a better first serve share of 72 percent
as compared to their rivals’ 44 percent and earned an impressive 62 percent win on it.
The Spanish tandem lost their track in the final set and gifted away an early break of serve in the third game. However, they quickly counterattacked by snatching their break back in the very next game. Granollers and Lopez then
tightly held their remaining serves and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. They moved the Argentineans all over the court and dominated to clinch the set with a 7-6(2) victory.
Granollers and Lopez junction clobbered a brilliant first serve share of 84 percent as compared to the Argentineans’ 54 percent and registered a fascinating 74 percent win on it. Furthermore, they saved one out of two breakpoints
faced and converted one out of three breakpoint opportunities to their advantage.
Next challenge for the Spaniards is the winner of the match between South African American pair of Kevin Anderson and John Isner and the third seeds, Swede Robert Lindstedt and Romanian Horia Tecau.
Fourth seeded Indo Pak Express will be joining the Spaniards in the last eight. They dumped the Spanish team of Nicolas Almagro and Pablo Andujar by hammering three aces and by registering an exceptional 90 percent win on their
equal first serve share. Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi dusted away half of the four breakpoints came across and cashed in four out of seven breakpoint opportunities to their advantage to seal the victory with a 6-3, 7-5 score line.
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