Finals Qualifiers Salisbury/Ram Move Into Roland Garros Second Round
Third seeds Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram opened their Roland Garros campaigns on Wednesday with a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over French wild cards Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys in one hour and 24 minutes.
Salisbury and Ram surged to a 3-0 lead, before Barrere and Halys broke for their first game. The 2020 Nitto ATP Finals qualifiers started the second set strongly, but were broken in the eighth game. They saved one set point at 5-6, 30/40 and went onto win the first six points of the tie-break.
Salisbury and Ram, who captured their first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open (d. Purcell/Saville) in January, have reached two semi-finals at the Western & Southern Open (l. to Murray/Skupski) and the US Open (l. to Koolhof/Mektic) since the resumption of the ATP Tour in August. They are now 15-6 on the 2020 season.
They will next challenge Australians Alex de Minaur and Matt Reid, who were 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) victors over Nikola Cacic and Dusan Lajovic in two hours and six minutes.
Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo (above) dropped just four games in a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win over French wild cards Arthur Cazaux and Harold Mayot.
Elsewhere, top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, semi-finalists in 2017 and 2019, swept past French wild cards Corentin Denolly and Kyrian Jacquet 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 34 minutes. They await the winners of Robert Lindstedt and Jordan Thompson or Robin Haase and Joao Sousa.
Second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, who have compiled a 21-5 record as a team this year, recovered from 1/4 down in the deciding set tie-break to scrape past Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in one hour and 49 minutes.
Granollers and Zeballos have captured titles at the Argentina Open title in Buenos Aires (d. Duran/Londero), the Rio Open presented by Claro (d. Caruso/Galo) and at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (d. Chardy/Martin) two weeks ago. They also finished runner-up at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel (l. to Krajicek/Skugor).
They now face Daniel Evans and Hubert Hurkacz or Marcelo Demoliner and Matwe Middelkoop in the second round.
Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour
US Open champions Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares (above), seeded seventh, enjoyed a 6-2, 6-3 win over Marcus Daniell and Philipp Oswald
Fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek knocked out Henri Kontinen and Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-1 in 71 minutes to set up a match against Aljaz Bedene and Dennis Novak, who were 6-4, 6-3 victors over Ricardas Berankis and Yoshihito Nishioka in 74 minutes.