Marach/Peya struggle past Monfils/Simon into the semi-finals – German Open Tennis Championships 2011
Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya of Austria beat Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon of France in three sets 6-3, 6-7(3), 10-5 in the quarterfinals at the German Tennis Championships in Hamburg on Wednesday. It took the Austrian pair
an hour and 47 minutes to beat their opponents in a tough contest.
Marach and Peya drew the first blood as they broke the French pair in the fourth game and held their next service game to grab a 4-1 lead. Monfils and Simon broke back in the seventh game to reduce the lead to 3-4 but they were
broken again in the next game to trail 3-5. Marach and Peya served out the set in the ninth game, claiming it 6-3.
The Austrians hit 68 percent of the first serves and one ace in the opening set. Marach and Peya converted fourteen of the nineteen first serves and five of the nine second serves into points in the first set. The third seeds made
full use of their opponent’s weak second serves, winning 63 percent of the second return points. The Austrians saved two of the three break points they faced and converted both break points they received on Monfils and Simon’s serve in the opening set.
Monfils and Simon started the second set strongly, winning first three games and breaking the Austrians in the second game to go ahead 3-0. The Frenchmen failed to maintain the lead as they were broken in the seventh game and lost
the eighth game to level the score at 4-4. Monfils/Simon and the Austrian pair held their serve in the next four games to equalise the score at 6-6 and force a tie-break. The French duo thrashed their opponents in the tie-break and bagged it 7-3.
The singles specialists delivered 61 percent of the first serves and two aces in the second set. Monfils and Simon returned quite well, sealing 38 percent of the first return points and 43 percent of the second return points. The
French pair capitalised on one of the three break point opportunities they created on the Austrian team’s serve and saved three of the four break points on their own serve in the second set.
Marach and Peya raised the level of their game after losing the second set. The Austrians clinched three mini-breaks in the match tie-break and grabbed it 10-5.
The third seeds will meet German pair Andreas Beck and Christopher Kas or Czeck/Slovakian team of Lukas Dlouhy and Michal Mertinak in the semi-finals.
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