Israeli duo loses 7-6(7), 6-3, to Germans Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske in PBZ Zagreb tournament.
By ALLON SINAIram erlich 88(photo credit: AP)
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich crashed out of the PBZ Zagreb tournament on Friday afternoon, losing 7-6(7), 6-3, to Germans Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske in the semifinals of the $460,000 event.
The Israelis, who are currently No. 13 in the ATP rankings, haven't played in a tour final in almost six months and, despite reaching their first semifinal of the year in Croatia, have yet to recapture the form that took them to the Masters Cup in 2006.
Ram and Erlich will take a break from the tour this week and return to Israel ahead of next weekend's Davis Cup tie against Luxemburg in Ramat Hasharon.
After neither duo managed to break serve in the first 10 games of the match, the Israelis were broken and the Germans served for the first set. However, Kohlmann and Waske squandered their opportunity, allowing Ram and Erlich to break back immediately and send the set into a tiebreaker.
The first 10 points of the breaker were split between the teams, but the Germans were the more composed in the decisive moments and two consecutive points for Kohlmann and Waske clinched the first set.
Ram and Erlich failed to break their opponents serve in the second set and it wasn't long before it cost them the match. Kohlmann and Waske broke in the eighth game of the second set and held their serve in the following game to complete the victory and advance to the final.
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