Lindstedt/Tecau oust Granollers/Lopez in quarters – Western and Southern Open 2012
Fourth seeds, Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt and Romania’s Horia Tecau, tumbled over the Spanish collaboration, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, in straight sets at the Western and Southern Open 2012 on Friday. They penned down a 7-6(3), 7-6(2) victory against
the seventh seeds to power into the semi-finals at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event held in Cincinnati, Mason.
The Swedish-Romanian duo dominated in both sets’ tie-breaker to carve out the victory in their sixth meeting at this outdoor hard court event. After earning the fame in one hour and 43 minutes, Lindstedt and Tecau improved to a 4-2 record in the head-to-head
series against the Spaniards and secured a place in the final four.
Lindstedt and Tecau convincingly entered the Lindner Family Tennis Center. They smoothly held their opening serve to level the scores at 1-1. The Swedish-Romanian tandem maintained consistency in their game and easily pocketed their remaining serves. They
drew the first blood in the 11th game and put their nose ahead for the first time in the match. Despite squandering their chance of serving out the set, in-form duo took a 3-1 lead in the tie-breaker and sealed the opener with a 7-6(3) win.
Ranked third in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Lindstedt and Tecau kept momentum sailing in the proceeding set. They quickly swiped their entire serves without encountering any breakpoint. However, the Swedish-Romanian pair failed
to seek any break opportunity and took the set to a tie-breaker. They dominated in it before clinching the set with a 7-6(2) score line.
Bidding for their fourth year-to-date title at this event, Lindstedt and Tecau registered impressive stats at this event. They struck nine aces and impressively availed 35 out of 41 points on their first serve share of 61 per cent.
Next challenge for Lindstedt and Tecau are the second seeded American twins, Bob and Mike Bryan. The Americans bounced back to overpower eighth seeds, Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Netherlands’ Jean-Julien Rojer, in three sets to set up this battle.
The Bryans produced a better first serve share of 63 per cent and amazingly availed 29 out of 37 points on it.
Tags: