Krawietz/Mies Up And Running In London
After a narrow loss in their opening match, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies earned an impressive 6-2, 7-6(5) victory on Tuesday against Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo at the Nitto ATP Finals.
The two-time Roland Garros champions converted three of their four break points to claim their first victory of the tournament. Krawietz and Mies improved to 1-1 in Group Mike Bryan. The Germans, who ended their tournament debut at The O2 last year with a 1-2 record, are attempting to qualify for the semi-finals in London for the first time.
“It was huge to win in two sets,” said Mies in an on-court interview. “We didn’t get off to a great start [in the] first match, two days ago… It was important to come back strong today and play much better. That happened and I am very proud of us, that we came back, bounced back and played a great match today. Winning in two sets in the round robin system is always very big.”
Krawietz and Mies gain revenge for a recent semi-final loss to Kubot and Melo at last month’s Erste Bank Open and level their ATP Head2Head series against the eighth seeds at 1-1. Kubot and Melo recovered from a set down in that match and eventually claimed the ATP 500 trophy in Vienna.
“In the round robin system we always have a chance, even if we lose the first match… We have nothing to lose,” said Krawietz. “We had to go for it, we had to be pumped and I think we played really well today.”
[WATCH LIVE 2]Krawietz and Mies began the match in top form, as they anticipated well and struck multiple return winners to break in two of their opening three return games. After dropping serve at 4-1, the third seeds struck another return winner to claim their third break before serving out the set after 30 minutes.
In the second set, both teams dominated behind their first serves to reach a tie-break. Krawietz closed the net well to earn two mini-breaks and the win after one hour and 23 minutes.
“It was a big advantage to get off to a good start today, because it was pretty painful to lose that match two days ago from a good position,” said Mies. “We had it in our hands and we let it slip because we didn’t go for it in the end. We were hoping for them to make errors and that was a big mistake. The key today was to come out, go for it, get the win ourselves and not wait for errors. That was very good and the start helped, for sure.”
Kubot and Melo drop to 0-2 in Group Mike Bryan. The 2017 finalists, who fell in three sets to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury on Sunday, will face Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic in their final round robin match.
Did You Know?
If Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic defeat Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the evening session, they will become the first team to qualify for the semi-finals. Ram and Salisbury can also qualify for the last four if they beat Koolhof and Mektic in straight sets.