Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Michal Mertinak have put on a dominant performance against Australian pair Greg Jones and Marinko Matosevic, winning 6-2 7-5, in the first of today’s doubles quarterfinals.
Early on Jones was having difficulty at the net and returning serve, which cost the Australian duo at crucial points and helped the Slovak–Polish duo claim the set 6-2.
It was a much tighter contest in the second set but Fyrstenberg and Mertinak managed to hold on and to win the match and secure their place in the semifinals.
In the second match, Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau overpowered Paul Hanley and Jamie Murray, 7-5 6-3.
Lindstedt and Tecau conjured the crucial break late in the first set taking it 7-5. In the second, Murray was unable to hold serve, giving Lindstendt and Tacau a 4-2 lead that proved to be the difference as they went on to win the match.
Lindstendt and Tacau said winning the tight first set allowed them to settle in for the second, “we were down [a lot] of break points, it’s a good feeling to get out of those”.
The pair described their semifinals opponents, top seeds Mirnyi and Nestor, as their “kryptonite” and are expecting a tough match in the semis.
“It’s a good test to see where we are and if we can continue on with what we managed to do in Beijing last year”.
> Watch Brisbane International videos
The highly anticipated doubles match of the day saw an ironic pairing of quarterfinals opponents – Marcos Baghdatis and Andy Murray – facing up against second seed doubles pair Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner. In front of a packed audience the pair showed they could translate their individual singles success to the doubles arena breaking serve and holding on for a 6-3 first set win over their highly regarded doubles opponents.
If Melzer and Petzschner were intimidated by their higher ranked opponents in the first set they put their reservations aside to break Murray’s towering serve before moving on to take the second set 6-3 and force a match tiebreak.
The crowd was kept on the edge of their seats as the advantage swung back and forth between the two teams. In the end the experience of Melzer and Petzschner proved too good as they took out the tiebreak 15-13.
> View the complete draws and order of play
Be part of the action
There are still some tickets remaining for Friday’s day (men’s quarterfinals) and night sessions (women’s semifinals) and Saturday’s day session (men’s semifinals). You can purchase tickets online from Ticketek.