Huber/ Raymond defeat Azarenka/ Kirilenko in the quarterfinals – French Open 2011
Fourth seeded pair American pair of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond delighted home fans by reaching the semi-final of the 2011 French open by beating the Belarusian-Russian duo of Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinal
with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 score line.
Huber and Raymond played exceptionally well in the first set and completely outplayed the Belarusian-Russian pair of Azarenka and Kirilenko with a 6-4 score line as the steadier American duo earned the key break, eventually closing
the first set with a well-timed forehand pass. However, the fourth seeded pair began to show signs of fatigue at the start of the second set and easily handed over the second set, allowing their opponents to tie the score at one set apiece.
The second set hangover carried over into the final set where the American pair once again found themselves down a break and on a path out of the French Open. But like a true champions, Huber and Raymond found their way back in
the match. Although the Belarusian-Russian pair got a bit tight in the final set, Huber and Raymond swung for the fences and eventually took the final set to stay alive.
Huber and Raymond finally concluded the match in two hours and twenty six minutes. The American duo wrapped up their fabulous effort with the help of 62 percent of points on service, 43 percent of points on return and a whopping
109 in total. Furthermore, they hit two aces against four double-faults in the match. In contrast, the Belarusian-Russian pair trailed behind with minority of points in every department of the game. They won a meagre 54 percent on service, a poor 41 percent
on return and a number of 105 points in total.
Up next for Huber and Raymond is the Indian-Russian duo of Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina, who battled past the top seeded Argentine-Italian pair of Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinal of the tournament.
Mirza and Vesnina, both of whom may not have had plenty of success in singles, but they have struggled a lot to build up an eye-catching doubles resume. The Indian-Russian duo is quite impressive at the tournament here in Roland
Garros, and seem to be a potential dominant double team in the future.
The American pair of Huber and Raymond needs to come up with something extraordinary if they desire to cause any upset to the unbeatable Indian-Russian duo. They could make their semi-final match relatively competitive if they
serve extremely well, but it will simply not hold up under the onslaught of Indian-Russian duo’s ground strokes.
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