Hewitt/De Minaur & Top Seeds Go Down In Estoril

#NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur and his mentor, former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, gave it a good go at the Millennium Estoril Open this week, but their intriguing run has come to an end. Britain’s Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie ousted De Minaur and Hewitt, who came out of retirement to play doubles, 6-4, 7-6(4), in one hour, 25 minutes. De Minaur and Hewitt battled from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to 4-4 and saved two match points while serving down 4-5, but were unable to complete the comeback, as the Brits advanced to the semi-finals. 

There was a significant upset in Estoril, as Jonathan Eysseric and Joe Salisbury defeated top seeds John Peers and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 7-6(4). Dutchmen Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop were also beaten Thursday. Leonardo Mayer and Joao Sousa dismissed this year’s Pune and Sofia champions 6-2, 6-4 in just 56 minutes. 

Kubot/Melo Finding Stride In Munich
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who are No. 1 and No. 2 in the ATP Doubles Rankings, respectively, are finding some of their best form. The duo reached their first semi-final since the Sydney International in January by beating Mirza Basic and Marton Fucsovics 6-1, 6-1 at the BMW Open by FWU on Thursday. The Polish-Brazilian team won 70 per cent of points in the match to clinch victory in 40 minutes. 

And while No. 2 seeds Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram advanced to the final four in Munich with a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 win over Ivo Karlovic and Nenad Zimonjic, another seeded team was surprised. Home favourites Tim Puetz and Jan-Lennard Struff took down this year’s New York and Houston champions, No. 4 seeds Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 7-5, 7-5.

Nestor Advances To 1st SF Since 2017 Tokyo
Forty-five year-old Daniel Nestor, the former World No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings, is still kicking. The Canadian partnered American Jamie Cerretani on Thursday to a 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 victory against Romain Arneodo and Hugo Nys at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. Nestor/Cerretani are now into the semi-finals, Nestor’s first trip to that stage of a tour-level event since Tokyo last year. 

In the only other doubles match of the day in Istanbul, last week’s Budapest titlist Dominic Inglot and his partner, Robert Lindstedt, moved past fourth seeds Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski 7-6(3), 6-3.