Top Seeds Krawietz/Tecau Cruise Into Hamburg Semi-finals
Top seeds Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau continued their serene progress at the Hamburg European Open as they took down German wild cards Daniel Altmaier and Rudolf Molleker in straight sets on Wednesday.
Krawietz and Tecau lifted the trophy in Halle and are going for their second title of the year on German soil. They saved both of the break points they faced against Altmaier and Molleker, and needed just 49 minutes to win 6-3, 6-2 and reach the semi-finals. The German-Romanian duo has yet to drop a set, and have lost only six games en route to the last four.
Other seeded teams in Hamburg had different fates: third seeds Matwe Middelkoop and Hugo Nys suffered a 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 upset to Jamie Cerretani and Hans Hach Verdugo, while fourth seeds Tomislav Brkic and Nikola Cacic fell to Andrey Golubev, a Roland Garros doubles finalist (w/ Bublik) and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-3, 7-6(5).
Elsewhere, at the Nordea Open in Bastad, Marco Cecchinato and Roberto Carballes Baena were the first team into the semi-finals after a nail-biting win over fourth seeds Nicholas Monroe and Andrei Vasilevski. The Italian-Spanish tandem came back from a set down and escaped in a tight tie-break to win 3-6, 7-5, 10-8.
[WATCH LIVE 1]At the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, third seeds Harri Heliovaara and John-Patrick Smith grabbed the last spot into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-7(2), 10-7 victory over American duo Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow.