Granollers/Lopez stun Llodra/Zimonjic in the quarter-finals – Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2012
Unseeded Spanish contenders, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, took full advantage of their favourite red clay surface, upseting the third seeds, Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic, in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 in the quarter-finals
of Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Friday. This ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event is being held in the capital of Italy, Rome.
Granollers and Lopez did not allow their French-Serbian opponents to settle down in the match, striking in the very first game and winning their following serve to grab a 2-0 lead. However, Llodra and Zimonjic, bounced back immediately
to equalise the score at 2-2. The next four games went with serve to take the score to 4-4. Granollers and Lopez hit a couple of fine volleys to break the French-Serbian pair in the ninth and served it out at 5-4.
The Spanish duo were above average on the serves, as they hit one ace and 75 percent of the first deliveries, winning 13 of the 21 points on them in the opening set. Granollers and Lopez were near flawless on the second serves
and returns, as they lost only one point on each of them, converting six of the seven and three of the four into points respectively. The seventh ranked team could not save one of the three break points they faced but compensated that by converting two of
the four they received.
In the second set, both pairs started by holding their serve to even out the score at 1-1. Granollers and Lopez once again went into lead, as they hit a blow to the French-Serbian combination in the third and captured their next
serve to attain a 3-1 lead. The Spanish tandem was in complete command of the proceedings, drawing the final blood in the seventh and closing it 6-2.
Granollers and Lopez’s serve performance dropped a bit in the second set, as they did not hit any ace and lost three of the five points on the second deliveries. However, the right-handers were good on the first ones, putting in
79 percent of them correctly and snatching 14 of the 19 points with their help. Granollers and Lopez avoided the only break threat they came across and utilised two of the three they got. The match lasted for one hour and 12 minutes.
The Spanish duo will now take on Indian combination of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in the semi-finals. Bhupathi and Bopanna toppled top seeds, Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor, in the quarters.
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