Melzer/Petzschner edge past Dodig/Melo into the last four – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner defeated the Croatian-Brazilian duo of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in four sets 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Championships at All England Club on Thursday.
The Austrian-German combination needed two hours and nine minutes to outlast Dodig and Melo in a closely contested encounter.
Melzer and Petzschner captured the Men’s Doubles title in 2010, when they defeated Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in the final.
Coming back to the latest match, both duos did not allow each other to claim a breakthrough in the first six games to take the proceedings to 3-3. The Austrian-German tandem hit a blow to their opponents in the seventh and consolidated
on it to grab a 5-3 lead. However, they failed to close out the set in the 10th game, levelling the score at 5-5. Melzer and Petzschner snatched a break again in the 11th and this time they made the most of it to triumph 7-5.
In the second set, both teams held their serve in the opening four games to square off the score at 2-2. It was an all Melzer-Petzschner show afterwards, as they grabbed four in a row, breaking the Croatian-Brazilian pair twice
and capitalising on the double advantage to grab it 6-2.
After getting two sets to love down, Dodig and Melo changed their strategy and came attacking in the third set. They stung in the second game and won their next serve, racing to a 3-0 lead. The Croatian-Brazilian combination maintained
their advantage till the end, sealing it 6-3.
Melzer and Petzschner responded in exactly the same way in the fourth set, as they grabbed first three games to build a 3-0 advantage. The Austrian-German tandem held all of their serves throughout the set and won 6-3.
Ranked 23rd in the world, Melzer and Petzschner pounded a total of seven aces and committed only one double fault in the entire match. Dodig and Melo also hit seven aces but they made three double faults. The Croatian-Brazilian
pair failed to utilise 10 of the 12 break opportunities they created and failed to put away five of the 13 they came across.
Melzer and Petzschner will lock horns with Lindstedt and Tecau in the semi-finals once again. Lindstedt and Tecau thrashed the Italian-Austrian pair of Daniele Bracciali and Julian Knowle in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
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