FLUSHING MEADOWS (NY): Eighth seeds Rohan Bopanna (India)/Aldila Sutjiadi (Indonesia) shocked fourth seeds Matthew Ebden of Australia and Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic 7-6 (4) 2-6 10-7 in the mixed doubles quarter-final fixture in the US Open Grand Slam here today.
The quarter-final match on Court No.5 lasted one hour and 33 minutes. Bopanna/Aldila fired five aces and committed three double faults. Matthew/Barbora committed five double faults and unleashed three aces.
In the first set Matthew/Barbora got off to a bright start by winning the first three games to take a 3-0 lead. Bopanna/Aldila bounced back by taking the next three games to make it 3-3. Thereafter the opening set progressed with the serve. Tie 6-all, Bopanna/Aldila clinched the set in tie breaker 7-4 and set at 7-6.
Matthew/Barbora won the second set to level one-set all. In the match tie-breaker, Bopanna/Aldila raced to a 6-1 lead. Matthew/Barbora fought back and narrowed the margin 8-5 before Bopanna and the party wrapped up at 10-7 and advanced into the semi-final.
Bopanna/Aldila hit 27 winners as compared to 24 by their opponents. Bopanna/Aldila won 75 percent points (31/40) on their first serve while Matthew/Barbora won 73 percent points (32/44) on their first serve.
Bopanna/Aldila are now pitted against the American duo of Taylor Townsend and Donald Young who ousted Anna Danilina (Kazakhstan)and Harri Heliovaara (Finland) 6-7 (6-3) 6-3 10-8.