Leander Paes and Scott Lipksy faced stiff resistance from Steve Darcis and Gilles Muller before sealing a quarterfinal berth at the ATP 250 Ricoh Open, here today.
The unseeded Indo-American pair edged past the Belgium-Luxembourg combo 7-5, 6-4 in the opening round of the Euro 660,375 grass court tournament. Darcis and Muller squandered many a chances in the one hour and 11 minutes match while Paes and Lipksy were rewarded for not missing theirs.
After breaking each other once, the pairs were locked 5-5 in the opening set when Paes and Lipksy got another break in the 11th game on the deciding point.
After 34 minutes of intense tennis, Paes and Lipksy had a chance to serve out the opener which they did after struggling a bit. They trailed 0-30 and then faced a deciding a point but managed to close the set in their favour.
Darcis and Muller put pressure on their opponents to grab initiative in the second set but Paes and Lipksy escaped unscathed, saving a deciding point in the second game. Darcis and Muller finished their service games quickly, without losing many points, and pushed Paes and Lipsky to a deciding point again but the break remained elusive for them.
Paes and Lipksy though did not miss out when they got the first opportunity to break. At 40-40 in the seventh game, they grabbed the chance to nose ahead and held in the next for a 5-3 cushion. They served out the match in the 10th game without any fuss.
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