Albot/Chung Upset Kontinen/Peers In Melbourne

Radu Albot and Hyeon Chung, the Next Gen ATP Finals titlist, scored a massive upset in the Australian Open doubles second round on Friday when they knocked out defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 7-6(5) in one hour and 35 minutes.

Marginally stronger on serve, Albot and Chung survived a power barrage from the second seeds, who struck 29 winners, to convert one of their three break point opportunities for a place in the third round. They now await the winners of 15th seeds Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, and Robert Lindstedt and Franko Skugor.

Elsewhere, sixth seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who lost to Kontinen and Peers in the 2017 title match, earned another hard-fought victory over Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4. It was their 70th match win overall at Melbourne Park (70-12). The six-time former champions, seeking their first Australian Open crown since 2013, will now face Australians Nick Kyrgios and Matt Reid or Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin.

In-form seventh seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, who are competing together at the Australian Open for the first time, got the better of Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4. Marach and Pavic captured back-to-back ATP World Tour crowns at the start of the 2018 season at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (d. Murray/Soares) and the ASB Classic (d. Mirnyi-Oswald). They will next challenge No. 10 seeds Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Another seeded team joining Kontinen and Peers, this year’s Brisbane International presented by Suncorp titlists, on the sidelines on day five were ninth-seeded Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. They lost to Ben Mclachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.