SA has a semi-finalist at Wimbledon

File picture: South Africa's leading doubles player, Raven Klaasen. Photo: Arun Sankar K.

File picture: South Africa's leading doubles player, Raven Klaasen. Photo: Arun Sankar K.

Published Jul 7, 2016

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Cape Town - South Africa's Raven Klaasen and his American partner Rajeev Ram are through to the men's doubles semifinals after their giant-killing feat against the acclaimed American twins Mike and Bob Bryan in Wednesday's Wimbledon quarterfinal clash. Klassen and Ram, the 11th seeds, disposed of the Bryan brothers, the second seeds, 7-6(2) 6-1 7-6(4) after a 104-minute encounter on Court 3.

They will now meet the unseeded French combination of Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in Thursday's semifinals. The Bryan brothers are three-time Wimbledon doubles champs, and have accumulated 16 men's doubles Grand Slams together and understandably Capetonian Klaasen was elated with the achievement at the tournament that's regarded as the flagship of tennis Majors.

“That's especially here at Wimbledon, where the Bryans have won three times and made the quarterfinals for the last 10 years in a row,” said Klaasen. “We're very happy how things went out there today. “We knew if we executed at a high level we would create some chances and we were able to take those chances today. It feels pretty good to be alive deep into the second week of Wimbledon. “It's a dream come true for Rajeev and I, and the first time we both have made the semis here and we really look forward to another opportunity on Thursday. We will put in our best effort to make everyone at home proud.”

Their coach Jeff Coetzee, who has been working with several doubles teams on the international circuit over the past three years, felt the duo's brave performance took the Bryans by surprise. Coetzee thought they managed to raise their game substantially in the two tie-breakers which they won 7-2 and 7-4.

“They are taking risks and this is paying off. What we're working on is gelling nicely for them,” said Coetzee. “I thought the boys played clinically and there was nothing in it in the first set, then Raven and Rajeev played a really good tiebreaker, especially with winners up the line.

“They played a great third-set tiebreaker. Raven is serving well and Rajeev is complementing Raven at the net.”

The Frenchmen Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin will have to pull out all the stops on Thursday after they survived a gruelling quarterfinal five-setter lasting a marathon four-and-a-half hours against third seeds Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil. The Frenchmen won 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 10-8. - African News Agency (ANA)

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