Ram and Ehrlich fended off a pair of match points before bouncing back to beat the Czech pair of Cyril Suk and Pavel Vizner.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFram erlich 88(photo credit: )
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich fended off a pair of match points before bouncing back to beat the Czech pair of Cyril Suk and Pavel Vizner on Wednesday and advance to the semifinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida.
The $3.45-million event on the outskirts of Miami is among the biggest tournaments of the year outside the Grand Slams.
Their 6-7(9), 7-6(7), 10-3 win places Ram and Erlich in their third semifinal of the season. They previously won in Adelaide in January and reached the final in Rotterdam.
The sixth seeded Israelis will next face the winner of the quarterfinal match pitting the top seeded Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, against the South African duo of Chris Haggard and Wesley Moodie. They were scheduled to play later Wednesday.
Playing on the Grandstand court, Ram and Erlich were even to their opponents in the opening set before slipping and losing the first-set tiebreaker. They then lost serve early in the second set and seemed doomed. However they broke Suk and Vizner in the ninth game and held on from there to force another tiebreaker. The Israelis led 5-4, but the Czechs used a quick spurt to put Ram and Erlich on the defensive side. Twice they faced match point before holding on to take the tiebreak and even the match.
Then with the momentum going their way, Ram and Erlich mopped up the deciding tiebreaker to win the match.
A new rule change in the ATP has eliminated the third set from doubles matches. If the score is tied after two sets, the teams go directly to a first-to-10 tiebreaker for the match.
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