H&H down Brazilian pair
Rosco and Hussy advance in Washington…
Ross Hutchins and Stephen Huss made light work of Brazilian pair Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa with a 6-1 6-4 win at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.
The Anglo-Aussie duo now await the winner of tomorrow’s match between Polish outfit Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski and Czech pair Lukas Dlouhy and Tomas Berdych.
Hutchins and Huss had originally been drawn against Fyrstenberg and Matkowski, before the No.5 seeds were moved to replace the Bryan brothers’ spot in the draw following the Americans’ win in LA last week.
Instead, for the second time in as many tournaments, Hutchins and Huss faced a late change of opponents, but dealt with the switch in impressive fashion to win in little over an hour.
Both teams produced chances to surge ahead in a first set featuring nine break points.
But while Hutchins and Huss converted three of their four break point opportunities as they punished their opponents’ second serve, Melo and Sa could only make one of their five chances to break back count.
The second set was a much tighter affair with both pairs cutting down on unforced errors, but the Anglo-Aussie duo sealed the crucial breakthrough in game seven, fending off break points in the next game to consolidate before serving out the match a couple of games later.
Hutchins has now beaten Melo and Sa three times this season after having faced them twice in Masters Series action, winning in Indian Wells with Andy Murray and in Miami with Jordan Kerr.
This third victory with regular partner Huss brings to an end a torrid time for the pair, who until yesterday had not posted a win together since reaching the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters 1000.
