Glasspool/Heliovaara Dig Deep To Seal Monte-Carlo QF Spot

Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara reached a fourth consecutive ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final on Thursday, but the sixth-seeded pair did not have things all their own way at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The British-Finnish team edged Argentine duo Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 in the Principality. Glasspool and Heliovaara, who are making their debut appearance at the first clay-court Masters 1000 event of the season, saved seven of nine break points they faced en route to a narrow one-hour, 46-minute second-round triumph.

Glasspool and Heliovaara reached the quarter-finals in both Indian Wells and Miami last month, runs that built on their charge to the semi-finals at last November’s Rolex Paris Masters. Their next opponents in Monte-Carlo will be Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn, who produced a major upset on Thursday by beating defending champions and second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 6-2, 6-3.

The quarter-final lineup in Monte-Carlo was completed by fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, who defeated Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6(4), 6-4.