Knowles/Malisse struggle past Devvarman/Huey to clinch doubles title – Farmers Classic 2011
Number three seeded duo of Mark Knowles of The Bahamas and Xavier Malisse of Germany stood victorious against the combination of Somdev Devvarman of India and Treat Conrad Huey of Philippines in the doubles final of Farmers Classic
on Sunday.
Being part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250, the competition was played at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, the United Sates, with the third seeded pair winning the crown. Knowles and Malisse toiled
extremely hard to wrap up victory in straight sets 7-6(3), 7-6(10), after one hour and fifty seven minutes of sweating play.
The enthralling competition was an excellent display of intense doubles tennis between two of the finest teams. Devvarman and Huey hung in the game till the last minute and fought valiantly against the third seeded duo but it was
only a matter of time that they failed to clinch crucial points in the matchup to let they opponents away with victory. Devvarman and Huey delivered 71 per cent of their serve on target and secured 39 first serve points, while their competitor bettered them
by bagging 46 points in the matchup.
The combination of Knowles and Malisse developed a magnificent coordination among themselves to rally past their opponents in the game. The third seeded duo converted four out of seven break opportunities, while suffering four
break point conversions from Devvarman and Huey in the entire matchup.
The opening set was fully stuffed with high quality aggressive tennis action, with a total of six serve breaks being registered from both sides. Knowles and Malisse dropped serve in the very first game of the match to trail 0-2
early but quickly gathered up pace to meet the aggression of their opponents in the game. A series of serve breaks followed right away, with both teams striking three break points each to drag the opener into a tie breaker round. Devvarman and Huey crumbled
under pressure in the tie breaker and collected just three points before gifting the first set to Knowles and Malisse at 7-6(3).
The following set again took off with an early trade of serve breaks, followed by a regular game to take the scores to 6-6. Once again a tie breaker round came into play and Devvarman and Huey posed some serious resistance this
time round. The decider was stretched to a total of 22 points, as none of the pairs was prepared to surrender. Finally, a mini-break from Knowles and Malisse did the trick for them, sealing victory for the third seeded pair at 7-6(10) to earn them Farmers
Classic doubles crown.
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