Martinez Sanchez/Medina Garrigues defeated Natalie Grandin/Vladimira Uhlirova in the opening round of Sony Ericsson Open Doubles
The eighth seeded Spanish pair of Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues won their opening round encounter against the pair of Natalie Grandin of South Africa and Vladimira Uhlirova of Czech Republic in doubles
category of the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Thursday. The winning pair won the enthralling contest in three set, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8, taking one hour and twenty five minutes of play.
It appeared an evenly poised contest as the momentum kept shifting throughout the game. The Spaniards had a sloppy start to the game, dropping the opening set but recovered to bag the later two sets with great mastery to conclude
victory. Sanchez and Garrigues had an ordinary first serve percentage of 51, conceding two faults and firing one ace. However, the winning duo was remarkable on collecting points in the game, securing 27 out of 29 first serve points and breaking the opponents
twice.
An aggressive start from Grandin and Uhlirova in the opener gave them the early momentum they desired. They converted 20 out of 27 total serve points in the game and exerted pressure upon their competitors by elegant winners down
the line. Grandin and Uhlirova successfully defended the only break point they faced in the first set and kept pushing their Spanish opponents to commit unforced errors.
Grandin and Uhlirova exploited the open cracks between the Spaniard pair; clouting assertive winners through them and breaking serve to lead 5-4 in the first set. They fully capitalized upon the bleak serve of their opponents and
sealed of the opening set at 6-4. A total of 52 points were played in the first set and each team won half of them.
Tide turned in the second set as the Spanish duo got its flare in the game to bounce back at their rivals. Although the first serve per cent for Sanchez and Garrigues remained drastically low to 48, they converted 82 per cent of
points on it to shift the momentum to their side. They denied two break points to their opponents and held their serve throughout the set.
An early break in the second set put Sanchez and Garrigues in the lead at 4-2, with their competitors struggling to control their unforced errors. The Spanish duo stung a second crucial serve break to bag the second set at 6-2,
bringing the contest on even terms with one set a piece.
The decider went neck-to-neck with the two teams throwing their best at each other to get on top. Sanchez and Garrigues held their nerve in the game and eventually concluded the match at 10-8, advancing to the next stage of the
competition.
Sanchez and Garrigues will take on the Russian wildcard pair of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva in the second round of the doubles. The Russian pair won their opening round contest against the duo of Alexandra Dulgheru of
Romania and Magdalena Rybrikova of Slovakia in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
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