Melzer/ Petzschner battle past Bolelli/ Fognini into title match – US Open 2011
Ninth seeds Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany moved one step closer to winning their second grand slam as they defeated Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini of Italy in three sets 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-1
in the semi-final at the US Open in New York on Friday. The Austrian/German duo took two hours and nine minutes to beat their opponents.
Melzer and Petzschner took an early lead as they broke Bolelli and Fognini in the third game of the opening set and won their next service game to go ahead 3-1. The Austrian/German combination broke their opponents again in the
fifth game and capitalised on it, taking the score to 5-1. Bolelli and Fognini made a comeback as they claimed three games in a row, breaking Melzer and Petzschner in the eighth game and holding their serve in the next game to reduce the trail to 5-4. However,
the Italians failed to level the score as they lost the tenth game, dropping the set 4-6.
The Austrian/German pair hit one ace and eleven winners in the opening set. Melzer and Petzschner grabbed sixteen of the 37 receiving points and converted two of the five break points they received on the Italian team’s serve in
the first set.
In the second set, Bolelli and Fognini drew the first blood, breaking Melzer and Petzschner in the fourth game and winning their following service game to build a 4-1 lead. The Austrian/German pair broke back in the seventh game
and held their serve in the eighth game, squaring off the score at 4-4. The Italians and Melzer/Petzschner did not lose their serve in the next four games and levelled the score at 6-6, taking the set to a tie-break. Bolelli and Fognini sealed last three points
in the tie-break to capture it 7-3.
After losing the second set with the closest of the margins, Melzer and Petzschner regained their momentum and broke the Italians in the second game to take the score to 2-0. The Austrian/German duo broke their opponents again
in the fourth game, holding their serve in the fifth game and stretching their lead to 5-0. They failed to claim a bagel set as they could not break Bolelli and Fognini for the third time. However, Melzer and Petzschner did not take much time and served out
the set in the seventh game, bagging it 6-1.
The Austrian/German combination will face Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland in the title match.
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