Bublik/Opelka Save 3 M.P., Oust Khachanov/Rublev In St Petersburg
Alexander Bublik and Reilly Opelka saved three match points on Wednesday to rally past Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 6-3, 1-6, 11-9, reaching the semi-finals of the St. Petersburg Open.
The Kazakh-American team trailed 6/9 in the Match Tie-break, but their Russian opponents missed two consecutive returns in the net. With Rublev serving at 9/8, Bublik and Opelka nearly bumped into each other while going after a mid-court ball. Opelka ended up lightly pushing a backhand to Rublev, who struck a backhand of his own into the net.
Rublev missed a forehand on the next point and Opelka clinched the match with a big first serve. Bublik and Opelka are competing together for the first time.
In first-round doubles matches at the St. Petersburg Open, Ben McLachlan/Franko Skugor ousted reigning Australian Open finalists Max Purcell/Luke Saville 6-3, 6-2 and Adrian Mannarino/Fabrice Martin defeated Jonathan Erlich/Andrei Vasilevski 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 .
[WATCH LIVE 1]Kubot/Melo, Herbert/Mahut Advance In Cologne
The top two seeds in the bett1HULKS Indoors doubles draw reached the second round on Wednesday. Top seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo eliminated Felix Auger-Aliassime/Robert Lindstedt 7-5, 7-5 and second seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut defeated Divij Sharan/Jackson Withrow 6-3, 6-3.
Fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Ken Skupski were made to work hard in Cologne, battling past Frederik Nielsen and Tim Puetz 4-6, 6-1, 10-5. Fernando Verdasco, who beat former World No. 1 Andy Murray in singles on Tuesday, partnered Alejandro Davidovich Fokina past Daniel Masur and Rudolf Molleker 3-6, 6-1, 10-8.
Cabal/Farah Into Sardinia Semi-finals
Three of the top four doubles seeds at the Forte Village Sardegna Open advanced to the semi-finals on Wednesday. Second seeds John Peers/Michael Venus and third seeds Marcus Daniell/Philipp Oswald earned straight-sets victories in the quarter-finals.
Top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah beat Sander Arends and David Pel 6-4, 7-5 in the first round. Frances Tiafoe (who was partnering Tommy Paul) withdrew from doubles due to a right leg injury, sending Cabal and Farah into the semi-finals. Fourth seeds Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez won their first-round match 6-1, 6-4 against Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar.