Lindstedt/Tecau down Bracciali/Knowle to move to the semis – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Swedish-Romanian tandem of Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau moved one step closer to reach their third straight final at the All England Club, as they overpowered Daniele Bracciali and Julian Knowle for a one-sided victory in the
quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships on Thursday.
The fifth seeds allowed their Italian-Austrian rivals to claim just 10 games in the entire match, closing it in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in just an hour and 40 minutes.
The first set saw a stable start from both players, as they won their serve in the opening four games to level the scores at 2-2. Lindstedt and Tecau snatched a break in the fifth and capitalised on it to claim the opener 6-4.
The Swedish-Romanian duo banged in three aces and 59 percent of the first serves. Their conversion rate was remarkably well, as they captured 12 of the 13 first and eight of the nine second delivery points. Lindstedt and Tecau
did not face any break point and converted one of the three they received.
In the second set, both teams started off by holding their opening serves to take the score to 1-1. Lindstedt and Tecau struck in the third and fifth game, consolidating on both of them to race to a 5-1 lead. Bracciali and Knowle
won their serve in the seventh one to reduce the trail to 2-5 but they could not pull any break back, losing it 2-6.
Lindstedt and Tecau served even better than the previous set, bombarding six aces and 74 percent of the first serves on their opponents. They converted 12 of the 14 first and four of the five second serves into points. The Swedish-Romanian
pair did quite well with the help of their powerful ground strokes, as they hit eight winners compared to just two by their opponents.
The third set was far more competitive than the first two, as Lindstedt/Tecau and Bracciali/Knowle went neck to neck till 4-4. Though, it was again the Swedish-Romanian combination that hit the blow in the end, breaking their Italian-Austrian
opponents in the ninth game and holding their next serve to win 6-4.
Lindstedt and Tecau lost to Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in the 2010 final. They were unlucky for the second straight year, as they went down at the hands of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in the 2011 title match.
The Swedish-Romanian duo will play Melzer and Petzschner in this year’s semi-final.
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