In one of the major upsets at Wimbledon this year, the stunning loss of the celebrated Bryan Brothers will be counted as nothing sort of sensational. The top seeded US twins had their quarterfinal scheduled at court no.2 on Tuesday against ninth-seeded India’s Rohan Bopanna and Romania’s Florin Mergea. Starting aggressively, the Bryans took the first set and looked like on course. But the Indo-Romanian pair staged a sensational comeback against the triple Wimbledon and 16-times Grand Slam champions to win the next three sets. The last two of those three sets were decided on tiebreaks. In the semifinals, Bopanna and Mergea will face fourth-seeds Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania. Two other Indians also moved to the quarterfinals in their mixed doubles matches on Tuesday. While Sania Mirza and her Brazilian partner Bruno Soares defeated the Croatian pair of Marin Draganja and Ana Konjuh; Leander Paes and Martina Hingis crushed the NZ-Aussie combo of Artem Sitak and Anastasia Rodionova in just 48 minutes.
Rohan Bopanna of India and his Romanian mate Florin Mergea pulled off Tuesday’s biggest upset in defeating no.1 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the thrilling quarterfinal match on court no.2 at Wimbledon. Title favorites Bryan twins began dominantly and won 24 out of their 28 first service points in the first set. World’s most successful men’s doubles pair broke the Indo-Romanian combination once and snatched the first set. In the second set, Bopanna/Mergea made a strong comeback and broke the Bryans twice. The Americans also managed to break their opponents once but the damage was done as Bopanna/Mergea won the second set 6-4 to draw level on sets. The third set was bitterly fought with no side willing to yield an inch. The veteran American combo did their best but couldn’t prevent the set from going to the tiebreak. In a brilliantly coordinated effort, Bopanna/Mergea took the set 11-9 on the tie-break and clinched a 2-1 lead as the match went to the fourth set.
In the fourth set, Bopanna-Mergea continued the momentum and avoided any break of serves against them. The set finally had to be decided on the tiebreak as the thrilling contest reached its climax. When they found the opportunity after a largely even play, Bopanna and Mergea took the tie break 7-5 and sealed the match in their favur in a sensational rally with the scores reading 5-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. In the semifinals, Bopanna and Mergea will play fourth seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania. On their part, Rojer/Tecau entered the semifinal by defeating seventh-seeded Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.
Other Indians, who made progress in mixed doubles matches, were Sania Mirza and Leander Paes. Sania and her Brazilian mate Bruno Soares played against Croatia’s Marin Draganja and Ana Konjuh and began with taking the first set 6-3. But Draganja/Konjuh came back to take the second on tie-break. In the decider, the Indo-Brazilian pair showed more aggression and won the match 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to seal the quarterfinal berth. Mirza/Soares will next meet fifth seeds Alexander Peya of Austria and Timea Babos of Hungary for a place in the semifinals. Leander Paes and Martina Hingis were dominant in their 6-2, 6-2 victory over Australian Anastasia Rodionova and New Zealand’s Artem Sitak. In a mere 48-minute encounter Paes/Hingis broke the New-Zealand/Australian pair twice in each set to seal their place in the quarterfinals.
