Llodra/Zimonjic outplay Bopanna/Qureshi in the quarters – Western & Southern Open 2011
Disappointment once again for the duo of Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan, as they suffered defeat in the quarter-final of Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, at the hands of the fourth seeded
pair of Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia, on Friday afternoon.
Seeded at number five in the tournament, Bopanna and Qureshi were absolutely blown away by their belligerent opponents in the competition, which took place at the outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason,
near Cincinnati, United States. Llodra and Zimonjic sealed victory in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, taking barely 57 minutes of play to make their way to the semi-final round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event.
The contest appeared pretty much one-sided, with Llodra and Zimonjic dominating most of the time in the matchup. They serve brilliantly when needed and have a rock solid baseline defence to deny their opponents from belting winners
down the line. Bopanna and Qureshi failed to register a single serve break in the entire matchup and squandered away the two precious break opportunities in the game to finish on the losing end.
Llodra and Zimonjic kept the rallies short and professional in the contest to cruise their way to victory. The fourth seeded duo delivered 57 per cent serve on target and reeled off 22 out of 26 first serve points en route to victory.
Bopanna and Qureshi closely followed them with 20 out of 27 first serve points but they suffered three cracking break point conversions from their opponent left them answerless in the match.
Llodra and Zimonjic drew first blood in the sixth game of the opener to break into a 4-2 lead in the contest. The fifth seeded duo frittered away two crucial break chances in the very first game of the match and then never went
closer to break the opponents’ serve in the rest of the matchup. Llodra and Zimonjic kept their lead and comprehensively served out of the opening set at 6-3 to get one up in the contest.
Llodra and Zimonjic nailed their second break point of the day in the very first game of the second set to get into a 2-0 lead early in the game. The fourth seeded pair then registered their third and decisive serve break to wrap
up victory at 6-2, getting into the semi-final round to face the unseeded combination of Juan Sebastian Cabal of Colombia and Florian Mayer of Germany.
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