05 January,2012 07:14 AM IST | | Rajesh Srinivasan
The No 3 seeded Indo-Serbian pairing of Leander Paes and Janko Tipsarevic overcame a tough fight from the Canadian duo of Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 to enter the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open here yesterday.
The young Canadian pair, who possessed a tremendous height advantage over their opponents outserved Paes and Tipsarevic in the first set putting in 71% of first serves and served seven aces to one. However, Leander and Tipsy used their experience and won the important points to break serve at 3-3 and then reeled off three games in a row winning the first set 6-3 in 32 minutes on a return winner from Tipsarevic.u00a0
In the second set, the unseeded Canadian pair faced a couple of breakpoints at 1-2 but managed to survive them with an ace and service winner.u00a0 Leander then faced a break point at 3-3 on a let cord and was broken when Raonic intercepted with a volley winner at the net.
Milos Raonic currently ranked 31 in the singles did double duty today after winning his singles match earlier in the day. Raonic, with his booming serve, clocked around 230 kmph, served out the second set with three aces in the game.
In the subsequent super tiebreak, the Indo-Serb pair quickly went up a mini break at 4-2 and then had a clutch of match points at 9-5 as Tipsarevic hit an overhead smash winner. The Canadian pair saved two, but the third proved too much to handle.
Paes showed off some of his deft skills at net with some lovely drop volleys even as the trademark chest bumps, that he and former partner Mahesh Bhupathi are famous four, were absent this time round. After the win, Paes and Tipsarevic indulged in a game of cricket with Tipsarevic showing off his batting skills as he hit some long balls into the crowd.
