Huber/ Raymond edge pass Kops-Jones/ Spears into semi-final – China Open 2011
Second seeded Liezel Huber with Lisa Raymond edged past fellow Americans Raquel Kops-Jones with Abigail Spears in the doubles quarterfinal of the China Open 2011. The teams combated with each other on the outdoor hard courts of
the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China. After combating for one hour and twenty minutes the second seeded American pair got the better of their unseeded fellow Americans by surviving a mid match crisis of 6-1, 3-6, 10-5.
Inaugurating the initial round of the match was Huber/ Raymond, who expertly handled their first service game and placed themselves on the score board. They further went on to breaking their opponents in the second game and took
a mini lead of 2-0. However, Kops-Jones/ Spears made a comeback by breaking back immediately in the third game.
In the fourth game Huber/ Raymond further extended their lead to 3-1 as they broke their adversaries and by holding their serve in the fifth game, they rolled the scoreboard at 4-1. During the last two games the second seeded couple
capitalized on their third break point and took a crucial game away from their rivals. They were now looking to serve for the match and as they served, they smashed a few backhand winners down the line to conquer the opening set with a breadstick victory.
The second set was initiated by Kops-Jones/ Spears, who finally held serve of the first game and then capitalised an early break to take a mini lead of 2-0. They supplemented the lead by holding serve in the third game and the
scoreboard rolled to 3-0. Kops-Jones/ Spears were on a roll after taking a thrashing in the initial set. From there onwards the players constantly kept on winning on alternate games without a single break and in the last game as Kops-Jones/ Spears smashed
a forehand winner, they secured a set against their rivals.
By the end of the first two sets both the teams had bagged a set each and the match was pushed into a super tiebreaker. Both the teams constantly battled and warded off each other with a series of breaks and holds. They kept the
score tied at 2-2 and then 4-4, matching a blow for a blow the teams dulled deuces and the scoreboard rounded off at 5-5 and then 6-6.
With another series of back to back breaks the two teams rounded the score at eight points each. However, in the last two games second seeded Huber/ Raymond shifted into top gear and cut the goose chase as the reeled off two straight
points against their adversaries, they clinched a score of 10-8 to bag the super tiebreaker and reserved a spot in the semi-final of the event.
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