Granollers/Lopez surprise Lindstedt/Tecau in the second round – Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2012
Spaniards, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, advanced to the last eight, as they stunned seventh seeds, Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau, in the second round at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Monaco on Wednesday.
The Spanish tandem did will to regain their confidence, as they were stunned by Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-7(12) in Spain versus Austria Davis Cup tie a couple of weeks back.
Granollers/Lopez and Lindstedt/Tecau swapped a break of serve in the first two games of the opener to even out the score at 1-1. They held in the next eight to take it to 5-5. Granollers and Lopez hit a blow to their opponents
in the 11th game and consolidated on it to win 7-5.
The Spanish duo kept their first serve percentage at 70, clinching 16 of the 21 points on them in the first set. They also did well on the second deliveries and returns, winning five of the nine and 10 of the 15 points on them
respectively.
Granollers and Lopez made the best possible start in the second set, as they made breakthrough in the very first game and held their next serve to attain a 2-0 lead. The Spanish pair struck again in the ninth game to capture it
6-3.
Ranked 16th in the world, Granollers and Lopez banged in one ace and committed a couple of double faults in the second set. They put in 62 percent of the first serves and snatched 11 of the 13 points on them. The Spaniards
put away the only break threat hey faced and capitalised on two of the five chances they created.
Granollers and Lopez took an hour and 29 minutes to come out victorious from the match.
The Spanish combination had not faced any difficulty in disposing off their opponents in the previous round either, as they beat Pakistani-Dutch tandem of Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in
the first round.
Granollers and Lopez will meet fourth seeds, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland, or the German-Austrian team of Florian Mayer and Jurgen Melzer in the quarter-finals.
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