Karatsev/Vliegen Spring Mallorca Upset

Aslan Karatsev and Joran Vliegen sprung a surprise in their first tour-level match as a team on Monday at the Mallorca Championships, where they held their nerve in a pair of tie-breaks to edge fourth seeds Andrey Golubev and Maximo Gonzalez 7-6(1), 7-6(6).

Karatsev and Vliegen wrapped up the match with three consecutive points, the first of which fended off a set point for their opponents, to claim the second-set tie-break. Their next opponents at the ATP 250 event in Spain will be Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez or Tallon Girekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp.

In the other opening-round match played on Monday in Mallorca, Austrian wild card duo Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler enjoyed a 7-5, 3-6, 10-4 victory against Sebastian Baez and Joao Sousa.

Mahut/Roger-Vasselin Advance In Eastbourne
At the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin were 6-4, 7-6(8) winners against Top 50 singles stars Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Pedro Martinez. Mahut and Roger-Vasselin are chasing their second title together on grass after their triumph in Newport in 2013.

There was also opening-day success on the English south coast for Maxime Cressy and Ugo Humbert, who overcame Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 4-6, 10-8, while Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Aisam-Ul-Haq-Qureshi downed home wild card pairing Julian Cash and Henry Patten 6-4, 7-6(4).