Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez had never won more than two matches in a row while playing together before and now they're in the US Open final as they upset French Open champions, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(4).
The unseeded and relatively inexperienced pair looked completely at ease in their first grand slam semi-final. They were made to work hard for a few of their service games but were extremely focused in the important points to take the only break of the match in the first set. There were plenty of opportunities but no breaks of serve in the second set. Garcia-Lopez and Carreno Busta stayed patient and dominated the second set tiebreak to upset the eighth seeds and make their way into the final.
Soaking up the pressure
Carreno Busta opened the match with some good serving to hold to love. Feliciano Lopez answered with a love hold of his own, hammering down an ace to take the game point. Early break points go the way of the French Open champions with the help of a double fault from Garcia-Lopez and a backhand return winner from Marc Lopez. Garcia-Lopez hit a huge forehand right between his opponents to save one and good overhead smashes from both Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez save the second and they held on to lead 2-1.
Marc Lopez held with the assistance of some great net play from Feliciano Lopez to stay in touch. The French Open champions have another opportunity at 30-30 on Carreno Busta's serve, but the youngest of the four players on court's inexperience doesn't show as he hits some great serves to hold. The combination of the huge serve of Feliciano Lopez and the skilled net play of Marc Lopez seen them fly through another love hold. Neither team was able to string enough good points together on the return to get a breakthrough, and Garcia-Lopez held with ease to stay ahead on the scoreboard at 4-3.
Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez finally got some luck on return in the eighth game of the set. Huge returns from each of them got them to 0-30, and Garcia-Lopez took the team's first break point of the match by finishing off a rally with a huge forehand down the line. The French Open champions managed to carve out a couple of break-back points as Carreno Busta was serving for the set, but a shanked forehand from Feliciano Lopez and a nice put away at the net by Garcia-Lopez saved them.
They managed to earn another break back point and Feliciano Lopez had the point on his racket but he hit an easy volley into the net to send them back to deuce. Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez fought their way back from deuce three times to finally take the first set 6-3.
Tightly Contested
Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez looked to continue their momentum into the second set and they had opportunities on the Feliciano Lopez serve at 15-30 but big serves got the French Open champions out of trouble and they held to go ahead in the second set. Marc Lopez began to show signs of frustration as he missed a couple of shots and Carreno Busta got the crucial hold from 30-30. Feliciano Lopez hit a sliced drop shot volley that only just landed on the other side of the net to bring up game point and Marc Lopez held to love to go up 2-1.
Garcia-Lopez had a bad fall in his next service game as he moved in to hit a forehand his left foot slipped and it left the French Open champions with a breakpoint. The team recovered well and a great pickup from Carreno Busta followed by a quick put away at the net from Garcia-Lopez saved the breakpoint and a very impressive hold kept them in touch.
The quick holds of serve continued for both teams until the seventh game of the set. Carreno Busta was up 40-0 on serve but the French Open champions started to up the aggression on return and they battled to deuce. They're unable to make the most of that chance and a forehand into the net from Feliciano Lopez gave Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez another game point and the hold. Danger appeared for the eighth seeds as they went down 0-30 at 4-4 but huge serving from Feliciano Lopez got them out of trouble and they fought for the hold of serve.
The holds of serve continued and resulted in a second set tiebreak. The first point went the way of the French Open champions, then Garcia-Lopez and Carreno Busta reeled off the next six points with two mini-breaks to bring up five match points. The eighth seeds fought back one of the mini-breaks and battled from 6-1 to 6-4, but the unseeded pair took their fourth match point to seal the match and the upset 6-3, 7-6 and roll into the final with their first straight-sets win of the tournament.