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This article was first published 11 years ago

Tour Finals Images: Bhupathi-Bopanna, Paes-Stepanek score

Last updated on: November 7, 2012 20:51 IST

Image: Rohan Bopanna of India and Mahesh Bhupathi of India celebrate their victory during the men's doubles match against Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania
Photographs: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna won their first match at the ATP World Tour Finals, scoring a 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 victory over Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in Group B to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek also made a winning start.

It was a good comeback for fifth seeds Bhupathi-Bopanna after losing the first match to Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielse.

Lindstedt-Tecau fightback in the second set

Image: Horia Tecau of Romania and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden react during the men's doubles match against Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Rohan Bopanna of India
Photographs: Julian Finney/Getty Images

In Wednesday's match, Bhupathi-Bopanna raced to a 3-0 lead after breaking Lindstedt's serve in the second game. However, the sixth seed Romanian-Swedish team broke Bhupathi in the sixth game to get back on serve.

Lindstedt suffered a second successive break of serve to leave Bopanna to clinch the 28-minute opener by holding service, as Bhupathi, rock solid at the net, ended a short exchange with a forehand volley winner.

As the second set drew closer to a tie-break, with neither team looking likely to break serve, Lindstedt-Tecau raised their return games. Tecau hit a forehand winner on Bhupathi's serve at 30-40 to capture the second set in 43 minutes.

Paes-Stepanek too register victories

Image: Radek Stepanek (R) of Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India celebrate their victory
Photographs: Julian Finney/Getty Images

In a Group A match, third seeds Paes-Stepanek began their campaign with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over the seventh seeded pair of Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Roger, on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Stepanek, making his debut at the event, saved a break-point on sudden death deuce in the second game. Rojer recovered from 30-40 at 3-3, before Qureshi was broken as the Indo-Czech pair produced solid returns and attacked the net.

The Czech closed out the 41-minute set with his second ace.

Qureshi-Rojer missed out on six break-point opportunities

Image: Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands react during the men's doubles match
Photographs: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Five points went against serve in the first six games of the second set, with Paes and Qureshi surviving sudden-death deuces in the second and fifth games.

Stepanek won four straight points from 15-40 at 3-4, giving his team the impetus they needed to break Rojer at love for a 6-5 lead. Stepanek then closed out the set, as Qureshi-Rojer were left to rue missing out on six break-point opportunities.

Tags: Stepanek , Paes , Rojer
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