Hewitt Makes Winning Return Alongside De Minaur

Lleyton Hewitt made a winning start to his latest return to the ATP World Tour at the Millennium Estoril Open on Tuesday.

The former World No. 1, alongside countryman Alex de Minaur, defeated second seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals in Portugal. Hewitt is appearing for the third time in doubles action this season, after appearances at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp and the Australian Open.

Hewitt and De Minaur conceded just three points behind their first serves in the first set and converted their only break point of the second set to clinch victory in 66 minutes.

The Aussie duo will face Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie for a place in the semi-finals. Edmund and Norrie defeated Argentina’s Federico Delbonis and Nicolas Kicker 6-4, 6-0 on Monday.

Top Seeds Survive In Munich
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo were forced into a Match Tie-break before eventually overcoming Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Diego Schwartzman 7-6(3), 3-6, 10-4 at the BMU Open by FWU.

Melo and Kubot won 77 per cent of return points in the first set, but were taken to a decider after conceding the only break of the second set. The top seeds rediscovered their returning powers in the Match Tie-break however, winning five of their seven return points to book a last eight clash with Mirza Basic and Marton Fucsovics.

Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram also needed a Match Tie-break to reach the quarter-finals. The second seeds came from a set down to defeat Fabrice Martin and Purav Raja 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 in 89 minutes. Dodig and Ram won 83 per cent of first-serve points throughout the tense first-round match.

Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya defeated Munich residents Matthias Bachinger and Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals. The No. 3 seeds converted six of their nine break point chances to set up a meeting with a second all-German pairing in as many rounds; Kevin Krawietz and Maximilian Marterer.

Matkowski/Sharan Safely Through
Second seeds Marcin Matkowski and Divij Sharan defeated Radu Albot and Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 6-3 to move into the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open quarter-finals. The Polish-Indian duo twice failed to consolidate breaks of serve in the opening set before eventually taking a one-set lead with a third break in the 12th game. The second set proved a much tighter affair, with a single break of serve in the eighth game for Matkowski and Sharan proving the difference.

Romain Arneodo and Hugo Nys defeated third seeds Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski 6-2, 6-4. The duo broke Podlipnik-Castillo and Vasilevski on four occasions to book its place in the quarter-finals after only 63 minutes.

Open Sud de France champions Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski also advanced in Turkey, recovering from an early break down in the first set to beat Cem Ilkel and Bernard Tomic 7-5, 6-1.

Did You Know?
All three of Lleyton Hewitt’s ATP World Tour doubles titles were won in the United States. The Australian lifted the 2000 US Open (w/Mirnyi) and Indianapolis (w/Stolle) titles before his most recent success at the 2014 Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open (w/Guccione).