Paes/Stepanek down Cilic/Melo to enter final round – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012
Fourth seeds, India’s Leander Paes and Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek, tumbled the Croatian-Brazilian pair, Marin Cilic and Marcelo Melo, with a bagel at the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012 on Saturday. They nudged up a 6-0, 6-2 victory over their opponents
to power into the final showdown at this hard court tournament taking place in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.
The Indo-Czech tandem reeled off opening seven games in a row before pulling out the victory in straight sets in just under an hour. Battling each other for the first time, Paes and Stepanek comfortably secured a place in the final round at this ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event taking place from 6th to 14th October.
Paes and Stepanek went berserk after entering the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena. They unleashed barrage of groundstrokes and winded up all six games consecutively. The Indo-Czech junction dusted away both breakpoints they faced and cashed three out of
four break opportunities to pull out the opener with a bagel.
Ranked fourth in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Paes and Stepanek kept momentum sailing in the following set. They got the desiderated break in the opening game to take the initial lead. Regardless of losing their opening serve,
the Indo-Czech pair maintained their intensity and stroke out following four games. The Indo-Czech collaboration dusted away one out of two breakpoints they faced but cashed all three break chances to formulate a 6-2 success.
Overall, Paes and Stepanek spilled more double faults but clobbered a much better first serve share of 76 per cent as compared to their rivals’ 56 per cent. They also marked 22 out of 32 points on it and ended the match with 52 points.
The Indo-Czech duo are bidding for their third year-to-date title together. They conquered Bryan Brothers at the Australian Open, first of the four Grand Slam events held in Melbourne, Australia. Paes and Stepanek then carried their momentum at the Sony
Ericsson Open (downed Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in final). The in-form tandem is coming off from final showdown at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (lost to Peya and Soares).
The Indo-Czech tandem will face off seventh seeded Indians, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna.
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