Cabal/Farah Knock Out Bryans
Cabal/Farah Knock Out Bryans
Recapping Thursday’s doubles action in Monte-Carlo
The top seeds and defending champions both bowed out in the second round on Thursday at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
In a fast turnaround after winning their 110th team title on Sunday in Houston, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan were ousted by Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, falling 6-4, 6-3 in 62 minutes.
“It’s very special to beat the Bryans in such a big tournament as Monte-Carlo,” said Farah. “I struggled with an injury in the month of March and was not able to play Indian Wells and Miami, so to bounce back this way is very gratifying. Sebas and I are playing at a high level and hope to back it up tomorrow.”
The Bryans had beaten Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini in the final last year to win their fifth Monte-Carlo crown.
Cabal and Farah are chasing their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown and go on to face Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who knocked out No. 1 seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-2, 6-3 in just under an hour.
“Once again today we played really solid,” said Peers. “It was great to continue that performance after yesterday’s win. Henri and I are combining really well now and we are both feeling very comfortable on court. Tomorrow will be another challenge for us and we will need to continue to play at this level.”
Second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over David Marrero and Benoit Paire. Last year’s Roland Garros champions are chasing their first title of the season together.
“We are very happy to start playing good tournaments,” said Melo. “Today we played a really good match from the first point. We could play as we want to play, this is very important. We hope to keep doing the same, playing well like we did in the first match. I think we have a chance to go deeper in the tournament.”
Third seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut received a walkover into the quarter-finals after Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco withdrew, with Verdasco citing a calf injury. Herbert and Mahut are looking to win their third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown in succession after victories in Indian Wells and Miami. They face Dominic Inglot and Andy Murray on Friday.