Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau score their first win as a team at the ATP World Tour Finals. Rojer and Tecau lost all three of their Round Robin matches a year ago in London. They are 1-0 in the Fleming-McEnroe Group.
Rojer-Tecau Strike Early
The match opened with Marcin Matkowski serving. A quick love hold pushed the team of Nenad Zimonjic and Matkowski to a 1-0 lead. Horia Tecau would quickly match at-love to even the score at 1-1. Game three saw Zimonjic start strong on-serve, but eventually allow the team of Rojer and Tecau to see a pair of break points. Rojer would put away the decisive forehand to secure the break and a 2-1 lead. On serve, Rojer would battle through to consolidate the break and push his team out to a 3-1 lead. In the next game on Matkowski's serve, Rojer-Tecau would grab a bonus break of serve for a 4-1 margin in the opener. Tecau and Rojer would each hold once on serve to close out the opening set at 6-2.
The tandem of Rojer and Tecau were nearly perfect on serve as they won 16 of 20 points and did not face a break point in the set. Matkowski and Zimonjic had some issues with their second serves. They lost six of ten points in the set off of their second serves. Rojer and Tecau were clinical on the break chances they saw, converting two of three.
Second Set Bounces Back and Forth
With Matkowski opening the second set, it was a quick break to Rojer and Tecau as they ran out 1-0. A solid service game from Tecau would back that break up for a 2-0 lead for the Romanian and his Dutch partner. Zimonjic would respond with a hold to cut the deficit to 2-1. A weak service game by Rojer would give life to Zimonjic-Matkowski who would break back to even the set at 2-2. A trade of holds from Matkowski and Tecau would send the set to what turned out to be the decisive game. In the seventh game with Zimonjic on serve, Rojer and Tecau won four straight points after the Serb had opened the service game with a point for his team. The break put Rojer-Tecau in the driver's seat to stay at 4-3. After failing to take any of three match points played on Matkowski's serve in the 9th game, Tecau closed out the match in the next game for a 6-2, 6-4 win.
Post-Match Notes
For the match, Rojer and Tecau took advantage of weak second serves by Zimonjic and Matkowski time after time as they won 12 of the 17 points played off their opponents second serves. The only real bump in the road for Rojer-Tecau came during the second set when Tecau injured his hand in a collision with his teammate. He did require some treatment for the injury following the 8th game of the set, but appeared okay to finish.
The win gives Rojer and Tecau a 2-1 edge this season in matches against the Serbian-Polish duo. Rojer and Tecau beat them on their way to winning the Wimbledon crown this summer. They lost to Zimonjic-Matkowski in August at the Western and Southern Open.