Rojer/Tecau To Face Herbert/Mahut In Madrid SFs

Third seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau reached the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open as they edged seventh seeds Alexander Peya and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6(5), 7-6(2) on Friday at the Caja Magica.

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“It was an extremely difficult match with different conditions as we played with the roof closed,” said Rojer. “But we managed to play some good points in the crucial moments in the tie-breaks and that was the difference.”

After three successive opening-round losses together, Rojer and Tecau are through to their first semi-final since February in Rotterdam. They are bidding to reach their first final since lifting the trophy at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London at the end of 2015.

Standing in the way of the Dutch/Romanian duo is the hottest doubles team of 2016. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are two wins away from a historic feat after rallying to down Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-8 to reach the final four.

Herbert/Mahut, now 17-2 on the year, have swept the first three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events of 2016 – the BNP Paribas Open (d. Pospisil/Sock), the Miami Open presented by Itau (d. Klaasen/Ram) and the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (d. Murray/Soares). No doubles team has won the first four ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in the same year.

Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo teamed to eliminate Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals. Melo and Mahut are in contention to take over the top position in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings from Jamie Murray. Melo is guaranteed to reclaim top spot from Murray, who displaced the Brazilian almost five weeks ago, if Mahut does not advance to the final.