Arevalo/Rojer Handle Auger-Aliassime/Medvedev In Halle

Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer picked up where they left off in Paris with an opening-round victory in Halle on Tuesday. The second seeds at the Terra Wortmann Open were crisp in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the first-time doubles pairing of Felix Auger-Aliassime and World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev.

The Salvadoran/Dutch duo scored one break in each set and did not drop serve in the victory.

“Honestly, when we saw the draw, we knew it would be a tough match,” Arevalo said of competing against two of the Top 10 singles players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“One of the best players in the world right now is Daniil, and Felix has always been on top in the last two or three years and he is still super young. So he is a potential No. 1 in the world at some point. But we are confident, we just won our biggest title as a team, our biggest achievement, and we have a lot of confidence right now and we feel like we are playing well even though it’s a different surface.”

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The switch from clay to grass presented no problems for the pair, who posted an impeccable 97 per cent win rate (30/31) on first serves in the contest.

“We are doing the things right and today, honestly, I think we played a perfect match,” Arevalo added. “We served well, we returned well and there were a couple of moments when we faced break points, but we escaped and I think that was key, because you don’t want to give these guys [a chance] to get back into the match. They are super dangerous, and if you give them those opportunities, they can easily take it and turn the match around. So I think we were lucky also to execute in those break points and keep the lead.

“Obviously for me it is a huge achievement. I never in my life imagined that I would beat the World No. 1 in singles, and No. 9 in singles as well! It’s just crazy what is happening.”

Top seeds Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers were also victorious Tuesday in Halle, scoring a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Tallon Griekspoor and Alex Molcan. The German duo of Yannick Hanfmann and Jan-Lennard Struff also advanced, defeating Dustin Brown and Dominic Stricker, 4-6, 6-3, 10-2.

Britons Advance At Queen’s Club
Two British men advanced to the doubles quarter-finals in London as part of two separate teams. Cameron Norrie teamed with Aussie Alex de Minaur to upset third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, 7-6(4), 5-7, 10-6, in a dramatic match that featured 21 combined break points. But just three of those chances were converted, with De Minaur and Norrie saving 10 of the 12 break points against them.

Great Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool paired with Finland’s Harri Heliovaara for a 7-5, 6-3 win against the French team of Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Glasspool and Heliovaara were not broken in the match despite facing five break points.