Marach/Peya stomp over Cermak/Polasek to lift the doubles title – Heineken Open 2012
Top seeded Austrians, Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya, blasted past the Czech–Slovak duo of Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek in straight sets at the Heineken Open 2012 on Saturday. They jolted down a 6-3, 6-2 victory over their rivals to lift their second title together at this Australian Open build-up tournament taking place in Auckland, New Zealand.
The high flying tandem of Marach and Peya showed exceptional skills to overwhelm the third seeds in their third clash. This was the Austrians third title-round appearance, with all of their final meetings coming against Cermak and Polasek. They not only triumph their second career title but also took lead in the head-to-head series by 2-1 against the Czech Slovak pair.
Marach and Peya confidently entered the opening set and drew the first blood in the second game to take a 3-0 lead. They maintained consistency in their game and held their remaining serves, eventually clinching the opener with a 6-3 win. The Austrians dusted away the only breakpoint they came across and converted one out of two break opportunities to their advantage.
After Cermak and Polasek held their serve in the opening game of the second set, the Austrians unleashed their skills and reeled off next three games in a row before their opponents could hold on again. Marach and Peya kept their spark lit and wiped out the last three games as well; sealing the success by winning six games to two. They kept their entire serves without facing any breakpoint and capitalised on two out of five break chances.
Summing up the winning seeds’ performance at this one hour thriller, Marach and Peya clobbered almost an equal first serve share but manifested spectacular 11 out of 12 points on it.
The pair made a drastic opening of 2012 after exiting from the opening round at the Brisbane International 2012. However, they re-focused their tactics and cruised to lift the title here without losing a set. In their opening round match, Marach and Peya dumped Spaniards, David Ferrer and Albert Montanes, in straight sets. Later, they received a walkover win against another Spanish team, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, and confidently reached the semis. The Austrians proved their worth and crushed the local wild card entrants, Daniel King-Turner and Michael Venus, in straight sets to reach this spot.
“It’s been a great week for us," said Marach. "Our serve really dominated today. I think we were maybe broken once in the whole tournament. We mixed it up well throughout the week. We’re very happy with the performance and it’s good for our confidence with Melbourne coming up."
"Personally I was injured for the whole of December so it was a tough winter for me," Marach added. “It’s always nice to go into a Grand Slam having won a tournament. We love the tournament there, so hopefully we can keep it going.”
The highest ranked doubles team of the tournament is now geared up for the Australian Open, first of the four Grand Slam event which will start this Monday. The pair needs to maintain their intensity and play in a similar manner without committing any double faults. With this perfect collaboration, the Austrians can definitely reach far at the Melbourne Park.
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