Melo/Sa battle past Bemelmans/Rochus into the semi-finals – Hall of Fame Championships 2011
Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa of Brazil survived the first set scare to beat Ruben Bemelmans and Olivier Rochus of Belgium in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the quarterfinals at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport
on Thursday. The second seeds needed an hour and nineteen minutes to overcome their opponents in a tough contest.
Bemelmans and Rochus were first to take lead as they broke the Brazilians in the fifth game of the first set and held their next service game to take a 4-2 lead. The Belgians retained their lead and served out the set in the tenth
game, grabbing it 6-4.
The unseeded team was lucky to win despite serving pretty averagely as they failed to hit any ace and committed three double faults in the first set. Bemelmans and Rochus sealed 75 percent of the first service points and 57 percent
of the second service points in the opening set. On the other hand, Melo and Sa served better as they kept their first serve percentage at 76 percent and captured a whopping 84 percent of the points on them. The Brazilians won four of the sixteen first return
points. However, Melo and Sa failed to capitalise on the only break points opportunity they created on the Belgian pair’s serve and could not save one of the two break points on their own serve in the first set.
The Brazilians and Bemelmans/Rochus held their serve in the first six games of the second set, taking the score to 3-3. Melo and Sa showed their class after that as they captured three consecutive games, breaking their opponents
in the eighth game to grab the set 6-3.
The Brazilian pair fired 62 percent of the first serves and three aces in the second set. Melo and Sa converted a whopping 88 percent of the first serves into points in the second set. The right-handers converted one of the three
break points they received on their opponent’s serve and saved the only break point they faced on their own serve in the second set.
The match tie-break saw a stiff competition as both teams continued to win their service points and equalised the score at 7-7. Melo and Sa stuck the final blow, clinching three of the next four points to win the match tie-break
10-8. The Brazilians won 100 percent of the first service points and 50 percent of the first return points in the match tie-break.
Melo and Sa will meet either Denis Gremelmayr and Tobias Kamke of Germany or Swedish/Canadian team of Johan Brunstrom and Adil Shamasdin in the semi-finals.
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