Mahesh Bhupathi/Rohan Bopanna down Granollers/Nadal in round two – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Sixth seeded Indians, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, got the better of the Spanish duo, Marcel Granollers and Rafael Nadal, in straight sets at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Monday. They summed up a 6-4, 6-3 victory against the Spaniards to secure a
place in the final eight at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event held in Miami, United States.
The Indian junction showed spectacular co-ordination to oust Granollers and Nadal in one hour and 14 minutes in their first encounter. As a result, the seeds not only advanced into the quarter-finals at Key Biscayne but also ended the title bid of the Spaniards.
Bhupathi and Bopanna made a nervy entry at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and suffered the first blow in the third game to go 1-3 down. However, they made a fitting reply and not only levelled the scores at 4-4 but capitalised on another break chance
in the last game to clinch the opener with a 6-4 score line.
The higher ranked tandem kept momentum rolling into the following set and swiftly kept entire serves without facing any barrier. They got the breakthrough in the sixth game after cashing in the lone break chance and sealed the set by winning six games to
three.
Bopanna stated in a social networking site after winning this match, “Good win at the Sony Ericsson Open for us today, through to my 2nd quarterfinal here. Looking forward to it tomorrow.”
Bhupathi, who is the defending champion at this event with Leander Paes, praised his new partner for his first win over the Spanish number one in Twitter, “Was a fun match today,playing Rafa in front of a packed house.. Congrats
@rohanbopanna on your first win over the King of Clay :).”
The Indians will next confront the third seeded duo of France’s Michael and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic. The French-Serbian tandem registered a 2-1 retirement victory over against the collaboration of Kevin Anderson and Milos Raonic. Bhupathi and Bopanna are
eyeing for their second ATP doubles title together here. They recently conquered the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, an ATP World Tour 500 series event held on the hard courts.
Tags: