Bopanna/ Mergea continue dream run at ATP World Tour Finals
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea continued their giant killing streak, as they followed up their shock defeat of World No.1 Bryan brothers, with a 6-3, 7-6 win over the fourth seeded pairing of Jamie Murray and John Peers in their second game of the group stage at the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals in London on Tuesday.
With this win, the Indo- Romanian pair are at the top of the Ashe/Smith group and have nearly confirmed their place in the semi-final. This was Bopanna/ Mergea's second significant win over the pair, after defeating them in the final of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships back in October 2013.
Bopanna-Mergea broke John Peers' serve, helped on their way by a double fault, in the second game of the first set. Murray and Peers, who had the whole stadium cheering for them, had three break points on Mergea's serve, but Peers missed a crucial shot at the net, and with it, a chance to put the set back on serve.
Both Murray and Peers targeted Rohan Bapanna's backhand on their serves and Indian tennis star ran around a lot of the balls to hit them with his forehand. Bopanna, on the other hand, was looking for serve and volley, and although he missed a lot of his first serves, his second serves bailed him out every time.
Bopanna/ Mergea won the first set 6-3.
Murray and Peers, however, put up a massive fight in the second. Jamie Murray's serve was broken in the seventh game of the second set as Bopanna produced two back-to-back winners– one with a delightful lob over the top of Peers, followed by a backhand pass between the two players at the net.
But Murray-Peers broke back immediately, on Florin Mergea's serve, to bring parity to the game. The Romanian was guilty of making a couple of unforced errors in that game at 4-4.
The ninth and the 10th game of the set were over in a matter of seconds as Bopanna and Murray produced an exhibition of vicious serves to trade points.
Eventually, the set went into tie-break, which Bopanna and Mergea won 7-5.
Bopanna and Mergea are in search of their third title as a pair, after victories at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and the Mercedes Cup earlier this year. They have struggled to perform well in big tournaments in recent months, but seem to have turned things around since the Paris Masters, where they lost to eventual winners Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig in a closely fought game in the quarter-final.
The Indo-Romanian pair will next face the fifth seeded all-Italian pairing of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini on November 19.