Murray brothers rally past Andujar/Raonic into quarterfinal – Rakuten Open 2011
British Murray brothers, Andy and Jamie, needed a third set to triumph over Spanish Canadian team of Pablo Andujar and Milos Raonic in a three set thriller at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2011, an ATP World Tour
500 series even held on the outdoor hard courts in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. They registered a 7-5, 6-7(2), 10-6 victory over their rivals to secure a quarter-final spot on Tuesday.
The British brothers high spiritedly entered the Ariake Coliseum and took one and half hours to overpower the Spanish Canadian tandem on their first meeting.
Murrays confidently marched into the opening set and took the first blood in the third game to take the lead by 2-1. Despite losing their edge in the very next game, the pair held their remaining serves and broke their opponents’
serve again in the eleventh game to seal the opener by winning seven games to five. They saved one out of two breakpoints faced but cashed in on both breakpoint chances to their advantage to win comfortably.
The Spanish Canadian duo lifted their game in the second set as they got the first blood and eventually went 4-1 up. However, they could not maintain their lead and after losing their serves twice, Andujar and Raonic managed to
break back in the last game to extend the set to a tie-breaker. They dominated in it to bag the equaliser with a 7-6(2) score line. The Spanish – Canadian pair saved four out of six breakpoints faced and converted two out of five breakpoint opportunities to
their advantage.
The famous Murray brothers re-gathered their energy in the super tie-breaker. They clobbered a higher first serve share of 63 percent as compared to Andujar and Raonic’s 50 percent and earned an impressive 80 percent win on it.
Furthermore, they dominated throughout the decider to clinch the set with a 10-6 win.
Next up for Murrays is the Japanese wild card entrants, Tatsuma Ito and Kei Nishikori, who bounced back to upset third seeds, German Christopher Kas and Austria Alexander Peya with a 4-6, 6-4, 10-4 victory on Monday.
The seeds made quick in-roads after bagging entire serves without facing any breakpoint. Spicing the set further, they founded eight breakpoint opportunities of which they converted one in the end to win the opener with a 6-4 success.
The beaming Japanese re-focused with the help of their home crowd and after cashing in on the only breakpoint chance to their advantage, they earned a similar score line of 6-4.
In the final, super tie-breaker, Ito and Nishikori clobbered an exceptional first serve share of 71 percent as compared to their opponents’ 14 percent and registered a superb 80 percent win on it.
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