Thursday, July 16, 2009

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On to the quarters By KELSIE JOHNSON ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ kelsie@nasguard.com: The rain delay in the fourth set of their third round match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, proved to be showers of blessing for Bahamian tennis professional Mark Knowles and his doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi. The duo moved into the quarterfinals of the prestigious tournament with a four-set win over Prakash Amritraj and Aisam-Ui-Haq Qureshi, yesterday. As the fourth seeds in the tournament, Knowles and Bhupathi defeated Amritraj and Qureshi, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (3) and 6-0. In the match that lasted close to three hours, the Bahamian/Indian duo served up 12 aces and committed three double faults. After breaking their opponents twice in the first set, Knowles and Bhupathi moved on to win the set in less than 45 minutes. This didn't settle well with the unseeded team of Amritraj and Qureshi, which bounced back in the 12th game of the second set to tie things up at a set apiece. The resilient play of Knowles and Bhupathi in the third set was too much for their opponents. After being tied 6-6, Knowles and Bhupathi dominated the tie-breaker. Knowles and Bhupathi never looked back after the third set, trouncing Amritraj and Qureshi at love in the fourth set. The set lasted only 30 minutes and was the shortest set played in the entire match by the teams. Based on the match summary, Knowles and Bhupathi out-played their opponents winning almost every category. They ended the game with no unforced errors and won five of 12 break point conversions. The win moves them into the quarter-finals where they are awaiting the winners of the Wesley Moodie/Dick Norman and Andrei Pavel/Horia Tecau match. The Moodie/Norman and Pavel/Horia match is scheduled for today on court two. Wednesday may be a tough day for Knowles as he is expected to take to the court in the men's doubles division and also in the mixed doubles division. Knowles and his mixed doubles partner Anna-Lena Groenefed are into the third round after a two-set win over James Cerretani and Sybille Bammer, 7-6 (5) and 6-3. Knowles and Groenefed will play Daniel Nestor and Elena Vesnina in the third round. Nestor is Knowles' former partner in the men's doubles division. He and his mixed doubles partner Vesnina got by James Auckland and Elena Baltacha, 6-1 and 6-2, yesterday. Bhupathi and his mixed doubles partner Sania Mirza were defeated by Leander Paes and Cara Black 2-6, 7-6 (2), and 3-6. Tuesday, June 30, 2009