After losing a tough 5-set first round encounter with Juan Ignacio Chela last week, Benni had to wait patiently to play his doubles matches...his patience was rewarded with an exciting run to the Round of sixteen with Petr Pala of the Czech Republic.
Benni's match with Chela featured two rain delays and an overnight postponenement, and in the end Benni went down 10-8 in the fifth and deciding set. BB came out firing when the match finally got started in the late afternoon last Monday. To close out the second set and take a 2 set lead Benni won the final 13 points of the set from 3-4 Love 40 and was looking like a strong candidate for the second round.
Unfortunately it did not work out like that. After dropping an early break lead in the 4th set the match was suspended with darkness looming and the court still a little damp in certain areas. When the match continued on Monday Chela was unrelenting in his return game, forcing Benni to save numerous break points before converting twice. Chela found himself serving at 5-3 in the third and one point from advancing when Benni unleashed a fury of strong points to break and a strong bit of serving to get back level at five all. Benni then broke Chela with a huge forehand on the line to serve for the match. But Chela immediately raced to a love 40 lead and won the game on a forehand pass. The two held serve until 9-10 when Benni dropped his serve and the match.
The rains severely effected the doubles draw. Becker and Pala, teaming for the first time, took out Suk and Vik. They were drawn to play Mirnyi and Bjorkman but Nieminen and Lindstedt upset the 2nd seeded team. After 3 days of rain they finally played and BB and Pela quickly dropped the first two sets. They came back to win in 5 sets...8-6 in the fifth. Unfortunately, their run ended then with a another 5-setter...this time a loss to Harel Levy and Rajeev Ram.
Benni's match with Chela featured two rain delays and an overnight postponenement, and in the end Benni went down 10-8 in the fifth and deciding set. BB came out firing when the match finally got started in the late afternoon last Monday. To close out the second set and take a 2 set lead Benni won the final 13 points of the set from 3-4 Love 40 and was looking like a strong candidate for the second round.
Unfortunately it did not work out like that. After dropping an early break lead in the 4th set the match was suspended with darkness looming and the court still a little damp in certain areas. When the match continued on Monday Chela was unrelenting in his return game, forcing Benni to save numerous break points before converting twice. Chela found himself serving at 5-3 in the third and one point from advancing when Benni unleashed a fury of strong points to break and a strong bit of serving to get back level at five all. Benni then broke Chela with a huge forehand on the line to serve for the match. But Chela immediately raced to a love 40 lead and won the game on a forehand pass. The two held serve until 9-10 when Benni dropped his serve and the match.
The rains severely effected the doubles draw. Becker and Pala, teaming for the first time, took out Suk and Vik. They were drawn to play Mirnyi and Bjorkman but Nieminen and Lindstedt upset the 2nd seeded team. After 3 days of rain they finally played and BB and Pela quickly dropped the first two sets. They came back to win in 5 sets...8-6 in the fifth. Unfortunately, their run ended then with a another 5-setter...this time a loss to Harel Levy and Rajeev Ram.
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