Ram-Lipsky, Thai twins enter Chennai Open doubles quarters

Chennai: The American duo of Rajeev Ram and Scott Lipsky and Thai twins - Sonchat and Sonchai Ratiwatana - progressed to the quarterfinals of the Aircel Chennai Open after registering convincing wins, here on Wednesday.

Ram and Lipsky breezed past the American-Dutch pair of Dustin Brown and Rogier Wassen 6-1 6-2, while the Ratiwatana brothers overcame stiff resistance from Britain`s Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins to win 7-6 (7) 6-1. Brown and Wassen, who won just three games in the match and failed to save four break points, were no match for Ram and Lipsky. Earlier, the Ratiwatanas who lifted the doubles crown here in 2008, won a closely fought first set 7-6 in the tiebreak, but wrapped up the second in just 25 minutes. The Thais raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set before the British pair won their first game of the set, but it was too little, too late by then.The Ratiwatana brothers exhibited impressive net play, and Sanchai in particular, scored many points through sharp drop shots from the net. For the British pair, it was literally a game of two sets as they saved four of the five break points against them in the first set, while failing to defend both break points in the second. Though the Ratiwatana brothers converted only three of their seven break points, they managed to save six of the seven against them. While Ram and Lipsky will meet Italy`s Simone Bolelli Italy and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the next round, Sonchat and Sonchai will lock horns with the Croatian pair of Marin Cilic and Ivan Dogig. PTI