Lindstedt/Tecau upsets Almagro/Robredo in opening round – China Open 2011
The unseeded combination of Robert Lindstedt from Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania displayed their amazing tennis skills to outplay the dangerous Spanish duo of Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo, in the opening round of the China
Open on Wednesday afternoon. The Swede Romanian tandem secured a 6-3, 7-5 win over the Spaniards.
Being played on the outdoor hard courts of the Olympic Green Tennis Center, in the city of Beijing, China, the contest witnessed exceptional game play from Lindstedt and Tecau to drive the Spaniards out of the ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
Rated at number six in the ATP World Doubles Rankings, Lindstedt and Tecau registered their 35th victory of the running year, with 17 defeats to their name already. They have clinched two doubles titles in the current
season so far and are looking very strong to clinch another one at Beijing.
The Spaniards were off to a sloppy start in the opener and let their opponents take the early advantage in the game. Almagro and Robredo regrouped a bit in the second set to pose some resistance but their error-ridden stroke play
wore them out in the later parts of the game. The Spanish duo squandered away a number of vital opportunities in the contest to finish on the losing side in the end.
Lindstedt and Tecau crafted a total of 13 break opportunities in the matchup and converted three of them to outplay their Spanish opponents. Almagro and Robredo utterly failed to craft a single break opportunity in the opener
and suffered two crushing ones from their opponents to fall on the back foot right from the beginning.
Almagro and Robredo had a brilliant start to the second set, breaker the opponents’ serve in the very first game but Lindstedt and Tecau back fired at them a couple of games later to bring them back on even terms. It appeared as
if the second set was heading to a tie breaker round with the Spaniards serving at 5-6, but Lindstedt and Tecau nailed a crucial serve break to seal victory for themselves at 7-5, moving into the quarter-final draw of the tournament.
Lindstedt and Tecau will play their quarter-final clash against the second seeded duo of Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada for a berth in the semis of the China Open on Thursday afternoon. Mirnyi and Nestor won
their opening round clash against the other Spanish pair of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in an exciting three-setter, 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-5, to reach the quarter-finals.
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