Indian Express overruns Melzer/Petzschner in the Round Robin – Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2011
World number four duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes from India had no trouble in dumping the seventh seed combination of Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner from Germany in the second Round Robin matchup of Group
A at the Barclays ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Finals on Wednesday evening.
The Indian Express took merely 72 minutes of play to run past the seventh seeded duo in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, to get 1-1 in the Group A standings at the season’s grand finale. Bhupathi and Paes were outplayed in their opening
double clash of the tournament, falling to the sixth seeded pair of Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania on Monday. Bhupathi and Paes are currently 31-13 in the current season, with three doubles championship titles to their name already.
“I thought Hesh played brilliantly today and moved great,” Paes told ATPWorldTour.com. “Especially at the net, he made some pretty cool volleys. One of them he made a block backhand half-volley crosscourt and said, 'you don't teach
that at home'.”
Bhupathi added, “We played a high quality match. I think it was important to start off well and we were able to keep that momentum all match. Hopefully we can keep it up on Friday and win through to the weekend.”
The Indians faced limited resistance from Melzer and Petzschner in the contest, cruising their way to victory in a comprehensive manner. They secured 31 out of 39 first serve points in the matchup, with their opponents trailing
behind at 21. Bhupathi and Paes converted three of their seven break points to take the better of Melzer and Petzschner, who registered merely one serve break in the entire matchup to finish on the losing side. The seventh seeded pair was simply outclassed
by the Indian Express in the contest and is now 0-2 down in Group A.
Three-time finalists, Bhupathi and Paes are hopeful of carrying their winning momentum in the rest of the tournament as well. The Indians are still alive in the race to the semi-finals, all they need is an extraordinary victory
over the world number one duo of the Bryan Brother, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, of the United States in their third Round Robin clash on Friday night. The Bryans are currently the Group A leaders, with two convincing victories over the seventh and then the sixth
seeded teams in the draw.
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