Feliciano Lopez and Serbian Janko Tipsarevic blaze past American duo James Blake and Sam Querrey in first round

On Tuesday night at the Farmers Classic, power was no match for speed.

The speedy doubles duo Spaniard Feliciano Lopez and Serbian Janko Tipsarevic easily defeated the all-American hard-hitting pair James Blake and Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of doubles play at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

Lopez and Tipsarevic – seeded fourth and sixth in the singles draw, respectively – got off to a strong start, breaking with Querrey on serve early, before the Americans won the fourth game with Blake serving to make it 3-1. Up 5-3, Lopez won his service game to take the set. In the first set and throughout the match, Lopez and Tipsarevic were quicker to the ball than their opponents and were able to perfectly time returns past Blake and Querrey.

Lopez said he and Tipsarevic complemented each other well due to the chemistry that has developed between them.

“I know Janko very well, I know his game,” Lopez said. “We’ve practiced together for almost one year, we had the same coach for a while, so I know his game and he knows mine. He’s very good returning, I’m very good serving.”

Lopez also said that playing in front of a crowd of American fans was not an issue, and that they were “respecting the game”.

The second set was more of the same. Lopez and Tipsarevic won the first four games of the set before the Americans finally won the fifth game. Blake and Querrey were able to cut it to 5-3 before a Querrey double fault gave Lopez and Tipsarevic their match point.

Blake and Querrey were able to fire off blazing serves and shots, but more often than not, Lopez and Tipsarevic were there to hit them back. They broke Blake and Querrey three times during the match, including in the first and third games of the second set.

Lopez and Tipsarevic looked like an efficient and effective team Tuesday, but Tipsarevic said that they didn’t come into the match with any strategy.

“You know what, honestly, until the last second, I didn’t know which side (I was) playing”, Tipsaveric said. “Just five seconds before the warm-up, we were thinking, ‘I play forehand, (Lopez) play backhand’, and we just picked one side, but it worked very well.”

GameDay desk to return

In addition to broadcasting quarterfinal, semifinal and both championship matches, ESPN will bring back the GameDay desk to UCLA for the Farmers Classic.

With it returns three renowned commentators to anchor ESPN’s coverage of the matches: Cliff Drysdale, Darren Cahill and Pam Shriver.

This year, the desk will be located at the top of BruinWalk, directly outside the LATC, to enable fans passing by to watch and listen in.

Tuesday Recap

Singles, First Round:

James Blake (USA) def. Leonardo Mayer (Argentina), 6-1, 6-4

Ryan Sweeting (USA) def. Kristof Vliegen (Belgium), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4

Robby Ginepri (USA) def. Ilija Bozoljac (Serbia), 6-3, 6-4

Kevin Anderson (South Africa) def. Illya Marchenko (Ukraine), 6-3, 6-2

Somdev Devvarman (India) def. Steve Johnson (USA), 6-4, 6-4

Alejandro Falla (Colombia) def. Karol Beck (Slovakia), 7-6 (3), 6-4

Tim Smyczek (USA) def. T. Gabashvili (Russia), 6-2, 6-3

Benjamin Becker (Germany) def. Giovanni Lapentti (Ecuador), 7-5, 7-6 (6)

Doubles, First Round:

Feliciano Lopez (Spain) / Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) def. James Blake (USA) / Sam Querrey (USA), 6-3, 6-3

Ross Hutchins (Great Britain) / Jordan Kerr (Australia) def. [3] Martin Damm (Czech Republic) / Michael Kohlmann (Germany) 6-3, 6-3

With reports by Ryan Menezes, Bruin Sports senior staff.