Paes/Stepanek down Fleming/Hutchins in the second round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Indian-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek easily defeated the British duo, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the last 16 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Monday.
It took Paes and Stepanek an hour and 22 minutes to win the contest.
The Indian-Czech pair and Fleming/Hutchins won their serve in the first eight games of the opener to take the score to 4-4. Paes and Stepanek started to put pressure on their opponents by playing aggressively after that, snatching
two consecutive games to seal it 6-4.
The top ranked team did quite well on their first serves but fared poorly on the second ones. Paes and Stepanek delivered 65 percent of the first deliveries, converting 16 of the 20 of them into points. The Indian-Czech duo hit
a couple of double faults and claimed just four of the eleven points on the second serves. Though, Paes and Stepanek amazingly evaded all the seven break threats they came across and availed one of the five opportunities of their own in the opener.
Fleming and Hutchins were looking to give a tough time to the top ranked team, as they began with a 3-0 lead in the second set. However, Paes and Stepanek showed their class by grabbing six games in a row, breaking the Brits three
times and pocketing it 6-3.
The Indian-Czech combination recovered considerably on their serve, clinching six of the seven points on the first and six of the nine points on the second deliveries. In comparison, Fleming and Hutchins’ serve performance dropped,
as they committed two double faults and put in just 41 percent of the first deliveries.
Paes and Stepanek came together at the start of this season and made the perfect beginning by claiming the opening Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open.
The Indian-Czech pair is drawn to play Spaniards, David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco, in the third round. Marrero and Verdasco routed compatriots, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 in the second round.
Paes’ countrymen, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, also reached the last 16 after beating Marcel Granollers and Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-3 in the round of 32.
The Indian team will take on third seeds, Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic, in the next match. Llodra and Zimonjic got a safe passage as their opponents Kevin Anderson and Milos Raonic retired from their second round encounter.
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