Llodra/Zimonjic derail the Indo-Pak Express in Round Robin – Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2011
Second seeded duo of Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia stood tall against the Indo-Pak Express of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in their second Round Robin matchup at the Barclays ATP (Association of
Tennis Professionals) World Tour Finals on Tuesday night.
The contest was staged on indoor hard courts of the glorious O2 Arena in London, with the fifth seeded pair suffering a straight sets defeat, 6-7(6), 3-6, to diminish its chances for qualifying to the semi-finals of the season
ending grand finale.
Llodra and Zimonjic took one hour and twenty four minutes of play to register a convincing victory in Group B, remaining alive for the race to the semi-finals of ATP World Tour Finals. It was their 46th victory in the
running ATP season and the fourth one against the Indo-Pak Express. Bopanna and Qureshi stunned the world number two duo in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris to claim the title a week ago but Llodra and Zimonjic avenged their defeat on Tuesday
to lead 4-1 against them in head-to-head combats.
Bopanna and Qureshi had three doubles championship titles under their belt while coming to London for the circuit finale but have suffered two defeats right up in the opening Round Robin matches. They were outdone by the third
seeded team of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in the earlier clash on Sunday evening in a stiff battle. Llodra and Zimonjic also suffered a close defeat in the opening Round Robin matchup on Sunday, falling to the eighth seed Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenberg
and Marcin Matkowski.
The fifth seeded pair coughed a number of unforced errors in the matchup, including seven costly double faults to finish on the losing side. The second ranked duo had some rough time in the opening set of the matchup against Bopanna
and Qureshi but eventually took them down in the tie breaker round to get 1-0 in the game. The Indo-Pak Express ran out of steam in the following set and their opponents stung two crushing breaks of serve to race away to victory in a comprehensive manner.
Bopanna and Qureshi matched their opponents in many segments of the game but the three break point conversions from Llodra and Zimonjic proved to be the decisive factor in the game.
Llodra and Zimonjic will take on the third seeded combination of Mirnyi and Nestor in their last of the Round Robin encounter on Thursday to battle for a spot in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals.
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