Murray & Soares Continue Quest For Second US Open Title

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares cruised through their opening match at the US Open Thursday, defeating Americans Hunter Reese and Max Schnur 6-3, 6-3. Needing just one hour, 13 minutes to seal the victory, Murray and Soares won 24/32 points off their first delivery to advance.

The 10th seeds have fond memories at Flushing Meadows. In 2016, the duo claimed its second Grand Slam title when they triumphed in New York. The pair will next meet Poland’s Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski in the second round. Murray paired with Australian Matthew Ebden in Winston-Salem this past week to defeat the Polish duo in the championship match.

Sixth seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic also produced a strong first-round performance, ousting home favourites Brandon Holt and Govind Nanda 6-3, 6-4. The four-time titlists in 2022 face American teenagers Ethan Quinn and Nicholas Godsick in the second round.

Two seeded duos were upset in Thursday afternoon’s action. Italians Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori upset ninth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(2), 6-2, while Wimbledon champions Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden ousted 14th seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 7-6(7), 6-7(8), 6-1.

Both pairs will meet American duos in the second round. Sonego and Vavassori will meet Christopher Eubanks and Ben Shelton, while the Australian duo Purcell and Ebden face Robert Galloway and Alex Lawson.

Among other doubles results Thursday, seventh seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek advanced, as did 2019 US Open champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.