Farah/Cabal Gain Revenge Against Murray In Eastbourne

Andy Murray will not win back-to-back grass-court doubles titles to kick off his 2019 comeback.

Top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah avenged their opening-round loss to eventual Fever-Tree Championships titlists Murray/Feliciano Lopez on Tuesday at the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne. The Colombians breezed past Murray/Marcelo Melo 6-2, 6-4.

Murray was broken to start the match but the pairing had four consecutive chances to break, from 0/40, the next game. Cabal/Farah, however, saved all four break points and were efficient throughout the opening-round contest, winning 83 per cent (10/12) of their second-serve return points. The reigning Rome and Barcelona champions will next meet Brits Daniel Evans/Lloyd Glasspool.

Fourth seeds Dominic Inglot/Austin Krajicek beat Nicholas Monroe/Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 7-5 and will next play Marcus Daniell/Wesley Koolhof, who beat Brit brothers Ken Skupski/Neal Skupski 7-5, 7-6(10).

Ben McLachlan/Frederik Nielsen saved five of six break points and advanced past Juan Ignacio Londero/Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-7(1), 10-5. McLachlan/Nielsen will next meet third seeds Fabrice Martin/Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who beat Brit wild cards Scott Clayton/James Ward 6-2, 6-0.

Rohan Bopanna/Pablo Cuevas also made the quarter-finals, beating Marco Cecchinato/Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 7-5 and will next face second seeds Maximo Gonzalez/Horacio Zeballos.