Klaasen/Ram Reach Second Masters 1000 SF

Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram advanced to their second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final of the season on Friday, beating Frenchmen Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 5-7, 7-5, 10-8 at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal.

The South African and American pairing hit 10 aces and claimed 87 per cent of their first-serve points to move into the last four. They also reached the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where they won their first Masters 1000 title (d. Kubot/Melo).

The sixth seeds will next face Indian Rohan Bopanna and Croatian Ivan Dodig, who beat another French team in Gael Monfils and Benoit Paire 6-2, 7-5. Bopanna/Dodig saved three of four break points to advance in 74 minutes.

Fifth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut escaped two tight sets against fourth seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(5), 7-6(11) to reach their third Masters 1000 semi-final of the season. The Frenchmen fell in the semi-finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Lopez/Lopez) and won the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title in Rome (d. Dodig/Granollers).

They will face top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers or Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the last four.