Mirnyi/Nestor beat Fyrstenberg/Matkowski to confirm semi-final berth – ATP World Tour Finals 2011
Seeded at number three in the tournament draw, the duo of Max Mirnyi from Belarus and Daniel Nestor from Canada faced no real trouble in dumping the eighth seeded Pole pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in their second
Round Robin matchup at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday night.
Mirnyi and Nestor took just one hour and fourteen minutes of play to wrap up victory in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, confirming a berth in the season’s grand finale at the O2 Arena in London. The Third ranked team were least challenged
by the bleak Pole duo, whose error-ridden game proved too taxing for it in the end. Mirnyi and Nestor registered their 44th victory, with three doubles championship title already to their name in the running season. They also clinched the all-prestigious
grand Slam title at Roland Garros this summer and were also victorious against Fyrstenberg and Matkowski at their Australian Open campaign earlier this year.
Fyrstenberg and Matkowski were beaten by their opponents in every segment of the game, struggling to get their rhythm in the contest. Mirnyi and Nestor secured 28 out of 41 first serve points en route to victory, whereas Fyrstenberg
and Matkowski lagged behind with a mere 16. The Pole duo registered just one break point in the entire matchup, suffering three out of 10 cracking ones from their opponents to finish on the losing side.
“We need to serve a little bit better, today our first serve percentage wasn't that good,” Matkowski expressed, “Obviously, that knocked us back a little bit as every second serve they were putting pressure on us and returning
really well. We have one win under our belt and hopefully we'll get another on Thursday, but we'll have to be better on serve.”
Mirnyi and Nestor kept the rallies short and professional throughout the contest, not letting their opponents to get settled in the game. A total of 111 points were played in the match and the third seeded duo secured 62 out of
those to overcome the Polish pair in a convincing manner.
Mirnyi and Nestor will next meet the world number two duo of Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in their last Round Robin clash on Thursday evening. The second seeded pair registered a comprehensive victory over
the Indo-Pak Express, Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, in their second Group B matchup on Tuesday, while suffered a close three-set defeat at the hands of Fyrstenberg and Matkowski earlier in the tournament.
Tags: