Cabal/Melo Earn Opening Victory In Rio

Teaming for the first time, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Marcelo Melo reached the quarter-finals at the Rio Open presented by Claro on Wednesday when they clawed past Austrians Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.

The second seeds broke twice and raised their level in the Match Tie-break, winning five consecutive points from 1/2 before sealing victory on serve after one hour and 30 minutes. Cabal has tasted success at the ATP 500 clay-court event, winning the title with Robert Farah in 2014 and 2016.

The Colombian and Brazilian Melo will aim to keep their run going this week when they face Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Diego Schwartzman.

In other action, Nikola Cacic and Andrea Pellegrino upset top seeds Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez 7-6(8),4-6, 11-9. The qualifiers will next meet Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni after the Argentines beat Mateus Alves and Joao Fonseca 7-5, 7-6(4).

Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul saved one match point to overcome Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-3, 4-6, 11-9, while Tomislav Brkic and Gonzalo Escobar beat Marcelo Demoliner and Felipe Meligeni Alves 1-6, 7-5, 13-11.

Bopanna/Ebden Advance To Doha SFs
Third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden booked their spot in the semi-finals at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open Wednesday when they overcame Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni 1-6, 6-4, 11-9.

The Indian-Australian team recovered from a slow start, winning 90 per cent (19/21) of their first-serve points in the second set and all six in the Match Tie-break to triumph at the ATP 250 after 76 minutes.

They will next play Daniel Evans and Jonny O’Mara after the British pair beat second seeds Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 7-6(3), 7-5.

Botic van de Zandschulp and Constant Lestienne moved past fourth seeds Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 to reach the semi-finals. The Dutch-French duo will play Patrik Niklas-Salminen and Emil Ruusuvuori next. The Finns defeated Tallon Griekspoor and Bart Stevens 7-6(4), 6-4.

Home Favourites Mahut/Martin Through In Marseille
Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Fabrice Martin earned their first win of the season as a team Wednesday at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille.

The second seeds defeated Andrew Harris and John-Patrick Smith 7-6(6), 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP 250. Mahut won the title in Marseille in 2012, 2017 and 2020, while Martin triumphed in 2019. They will next meet Jonathan Eysseric and Denys Molchanov.

Top seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin advanced, beating Frenchmen Benjamin Bonzi and Arthur Rinderknech 6-0, 6-4. Belgians Zizou Bergs and David Goffin also secured their spot in the quarter-finals, taking out Marco Bortolotti and Sergio Martos Gornes 3-6, 6-2, 10-7.