Double Dose Of Doubles Upsets In Toronto

Hubert Hurkacz and Mate Pavic upset top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski on Wednesday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

The Polish-Croatian pair fired 14 aces to defeat the defending champions 6-7(2), 7-6(2), 10-5 and book their ticket to the Toronto quarter-finals. Koolhof served for the match at 6-5 in the second set before Hurkacz and Pavic mounted a comeback, with the 26-year-old Pole ripping a forehand return winner on break point to push the Dutch-British team to a second-set tie-break. 

Hurkacz and Pavic will next meet Nicolas Mahut and Vasek Pospisil or Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz. Koolhof and Skupski, who are No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, were competing in their first match since collecting the Wimbledon title.

Second seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek didn’t fare any better, falling 6-3, 7-6(4) to Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer in their first outing as a pair since a second-round exit at Wimbledon.

In other doubles action, eighth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin downed Tallon Griekspoor and Jiri Lehecka 6-2, 6-7(6), 10-6 to maintain their form following last week’s triumph in Los Cabos. The Mexican-French duo also won the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami and in Marseille earlier this season.

Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen moved past Marcelo Melo and John Peers 7-6(6), 2-6, 10-7 and seventh seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos reached the last eight after Fabrice Martin and Andreas Mies retired at 4-4.