Mirnyi/Nestor down Kas/Seppi to enter quarters – BNP Paribas Masters 2012
Second seeds, Belarus’ Max Mirnyi and Canada’s Daniel Nestor, tumbled the German-Italian tandem, Christopher Kas and Andreas Seppi, in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Masters 2012 on Wednesday. They penned down a 7-6(3), 6-2 victory against their opponents to power into the final eight at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event held in Paris Bercy, France.
The Belarusian-Canadian duo warded off early resistance to triumph over their rivals in their first encounter. After earning the glory in one hour and nine minutes, Mirnyi and Nestor moved a step closer towards their fifth year-to-date title at this indoor hard court event.
Mirnyi and Nestor high-spiritedly stepped into the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. They suffered the first blow in seventh game and trailed at 3-4. However, the Belarusian-Canadian tandem quickly counterattacked and snatched their break back in the very next game. They held their composure and not only dragged the set to a tie-breaker but dominated in it to pull out the opener with a 7-6(3) score line. Mirnyi and Nestor brushed off one out of two breakpoints they came across and cashed the lone break chance to stay in contention.
Ranked second in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Mirnyi and Nestor lost their track towards the following set. They gifted away their opening serve and fell at 0-2. However, they went berserk after that and reeled off the following six games. They dusted away four out of five breakpoints they faced and cashed all three break opportunities to formulate a 6-2 success.
All in all, the Belarusian-Canadian collaboration nudged up a slightly lower first serve share of 67 per cent as compared to their rivals’ 68 per cent but impressively availed 29 out of 38 points on it. They also spilled fewer double faults and ended the battle with 68 points in contrast with their opponents’ 51 points.
With this victory, the in-form pair improved to a 42-15 win-loss record this season. They will next face the conqueror of the match between seventh seeds, Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Netherlands’ Jean-Julien Rojer, and the Spanish-Serbian junction, Feliciano Lopez and Nenad Zimonjic.
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