MELBOURNE, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Zhang Zhizhen and his Czech partner Tomas Machac's run at the Australian Open is over on Monday after they were beaten in the men's doubles third round.
Zhang and Machac fought back from a set down but were defeated by the 15th seeds Hugo Nys and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in their third round match at Melbourne Park.
The Monegasque-French pair were victorious 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 47 minutes at John Cain Arena to advance to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.
"It was a tough match against two great opponents. They're two very good singles players, they hit the ball very hard," Nys said on the court after the match.
There were only three breaks of serve in the match - one in each set.
The final break came in the eighth game of the final set off the serve of Machac, giving Nys and Roger-Vasselin a 5-3 lead and the opportunity for Nys to serve out the match.
He did so to love, converting the first of three match points.
"We had to stay focused and eventually we managed to break at the end, so really happy," Nys said.
The sole break in the second set also came in the eighth game, this time off the serve of the 41-year-old Roger-Vasselin, after a double fault gave Zhang and Machac two break points, the second of which was converted after the Chinese-Czech duo successfully defended two break point chances in the previous game.
For the match, Zhang and Machac won 22 percent of points when returning serve, compared to 32 percent for Nys and Roger-Vasselin. ■
