The French pair of Fabrice Santoro and Nicolas Mahut was made to sweat in the middle as the duo overcame a dropped set to secure their passage to the quarterfinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Pitted against Frank Dancevic, fourth seed Santoro found his back against the wall after losing the first set in tie-breaker. That served a wake up call for the Frenchman who raised his game in the subsequent sets and eventually walked away with a 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 win.
Santoro knows he did not look convincing in the match and the Frenchman blamed heat and weariness for the scrappy show.
He said
It was just the heat. I came over from Europe Monday night and I was tired.
On the other hand, Mahut began well by snatching the first set from fellow Frenchman Antony Dupuis before losing the second in tie-breaker. Mahut was soon in his elements and he shrugged off complacence and dropped just one game in the lopsided third set to win it 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1.
Mahut, who beat world number two Rafael Nadal in the semifinal at Queens Club, said beating Dupuis was not easy, especially because they practise together and know each other’s game too well.
Mahut said
We spent all week together. We practised together. It’s tough when you have to play the match.
Santoro and Mahut were joined in the quarterfinals by Mischa Zverev and Prakash Amritraj.
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