Paes/Stepanek oust Qureshi/Rojer in Group A – Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2012
Indian-Czech tandem, Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek, stomped over the seventh seeds, Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Netherlands’ Jean-Julien Rojer, in straight sets at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2012 on Tuesday. They nudged up a 6-4, 7-5 victory
against their opponents to lead Group A of this season ending tournament held in London, England.
Seeded third in this event, Paes and Stepanek showed brilliant skills to outsmart the Pakistan-Dutch junction in their first encounter at this indoor hard court event. After recording the victory in one hour and 33 minutes, the Indo-Czech duo took lead in
the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head Series against Qureshi and Rojer and topped their group.
Paes and Stepanek made a convincing entry at The O2 Arena. They smoothly bagged their entire serves until they drew the first blood in the ninth game. The Indo-Czech tandem then slid their serve once again and clicked the opener with a 6-4 win. They brushed
off both breakpoints they came across and converted one out of three break chances to their advantage.
Ranked third in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, Paes and Stepanek held their composure in the following set. They superbly warded off all four breakpoints they came across to keep their entire serves. The Indo-Czech pair got the
breakthrough in the 11th game after cashing one out of two break chances and clinched the set with a 7-5 score line.
On the whole, the in-form pair stayed on track to grab their fourth year-to-date title. They spilled fewer double faults and clobbered a better first serve share of 58 per cent as compared to their rivals’ 55 per cent. Paes and Stepanek also impressively
availed 26 out of 35 points on it and ended the match with 64 points.
Paes and Stepanek will square off against sixth seeded Spaniards, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, on Thursday. The Spanish duo stunned top seeded Americans, Mike and Bob Bryan, in a three-set thriller on Monday. They lost their serve twice but cashed two
out of five break chances to formulate a 7-5, 5-7, 11-9 score line.
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