Kubot/Tipsarevic surprise Bryans in the quarters – Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2012
Unseeded duo of Lukasz Kubot and Janko Tipsarevic knocked out the best doubles team in the history of tennis, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, in twin sets 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
The Polish-Serbian tandem required only an hour and 12 minutes to post win over their opponents.
Bryans drew the first blood, as they broke Kubot and Tipsarevic in the second game to attain a 2-0 lead. However, they could not sustain it for too long, losing two in a row and levelling the score at 2-2. Kubot and Tipsarevic
struck again in the seventh game and held their following serve to move ahead 5-3. They allowed Bryans to claim one more but not even a single point in the 10th, sealing it 6-4.
The Polish-Serbian combination banged in a couple of aces and did not commit any double fault, keeping their first serve percentage at 85. They won most of the points on their deliveries, clinching 16 of the 23 first and three
of the four second serve points. The 45th ranked pair saved two of the three break points they faced and converted two of the three they received in the opener.
In the second set, both teams started in a stable manner, as they did not allow the other to break in the first eight games and evened out the score at 4-4. Kubot and Tipsarevic finally broke the ice, hitting a blow to the Americans
in the ninth and serving it out at 5-4.
The Polish-Serbian duo pounded a couple of aces and 64 percent of the first deliveries in the second set. The right-handers converted 14 of the 16 first and six of the nine second serves into points. In comparison, Bryans gave
a satisfactory result on the first ones, as they won 18 of the 23 points on them but the twins gave a horrible performance on the second deliveries, losing five of the six points. The third ranked team in the world failed to create any break opportunity and
could not save one of the three they received.
Kubot and Tipsarevic had also played together at the Sony Ericsson Open in March but there they had lost to Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in straight sets 1-6, 4-6 in the quarters.
On the other hand, Bryans were upset by Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer in the round of 16 at their last event in Madrid.
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