Granollers/Nadal dump Mertinak/Troicki to enter quarters – Gerry Weber Open 2012
Fourth seeded Spaniards, Marcel Granollers and Rafael Nadal, conquered the Slovakian-Serbian tandem, Michal Mertinak and Viktor Troicki, in a three set thriller at the Gerry Weber Open 2012 on Wednesday. They nudged up a 5-7, 6-2, 10-8 victory against their
opponents to progress into the quarter-finals at this outdoor grass court tournament held in Halle, Germany.
The Spanish junction of Granollers and Nadal made a sloppy start but found their rhythm afterwards, ultimately pulling out the victory in one hour and 21 minutes. After bagging this match, the seeds not only took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against
Mertinak and Troicki but also secured a place in the final eight.
Nadal, who recently claimed her seventh French Open title after shocking world number one Novak Djokovic, reflected about his decision of playing the doubles event, “The real thing for me is more preparation for the singles [match] tomorrow, to compete,
to spend time on the court, to serve a bit, to adapt to the conditions on grass. That’s probably going to help.”
Mertinak and Troicki made a magnificent start at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event. They suffered the first blow in the third game but stayed calm and recovered in the sixth game. The Slovakian-Serbian collaboration
swiped their remaining serves and got the breakthrough in the last game, subsequently registering a 7-5 success.
Ranked 83rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Granollers and Nadal re-focused in the following set and earned the desiderated break in the third game to leap to a 3-1 lead. After their rivals kept their serve in the
fifth game, the Spaniards pocketed the last three games in a row and sealed the equaliser by winning six games to two.
The match was poised on a knife edge but the seeds were the one who stayed focused. Mertinak and Troicki nudged up a perfect first serve share but the Spaniards got the upper hand, ultimately clinching the decider with a 10-8 score line.
Next up for the fourth seeds is the local tandem, Michael Kohlmann and Florian Mayer, who hit back to outmuscle the Dutch-Finn junction, Robin Haase and Jarkko Nieminen, in three sets to set up this epic encounter.
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