In their first match as a team since 2015, Robert Lindstedt and Marcin Matkowski fell in a third-set tie-break in the first round at Roland Garros against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. But they have not let the disappointment resonate, upsetting No. 3 seeds Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 6-3, 6-4 at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart on Thursday to advance to their first semi-final as a pair since the Sydney International three years ago. 

Lindstedt/Matkowski will attempt to reach their first ATP World Tour final together when they face Marton Fucsovics/Mischa Zverev or Jonathan Eysseric/Lucas Pouille. Eysseric and Pouille surprised No. 2 seeds Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-7 in a late opening-round match on Thursday. 

The seeded casualties continued, as wild cards Philipp Petzschner and Tim Puetz battled past No. 4 seeds Marcelo Demoliner and Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-6. The Germans will look to continue their run in the semi-finals against top seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer. The Pakistani-Dutch team survived a battle, ousting Nick Kyrgios and Jackson Withrow 7-6(3), 6-4.

Fourth Seeds Advance In ‘s-Hertogenbosch
No. 4 seeds Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak beat Romain Arneodo and Gilles Muller 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the Libema Open in the only doubles match of the day in The Netherlands.

Did You Know?
Robert Lindstedt and Marcin Matkowski have yet to reach a final as a team, but they have combined to win 39 tour-level titles.

Milos Raonic, 2016 Wimbledon finalist, cruised past Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-2, 6-4 in 51 minutes at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart on Thursday to set an exciting quarter-final clash against 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych.

“It’s never easy on grass. Obviously the one important thing for me was I held my serve pretty routinely throughout the match. That puts a lot of pressure on my opponent so when I do get a few chances, they feel a lot more difficult for him because it could be the end of that set,” Raonic said. “I’m doing things well. I’m happy with the way I’m playing, and I hope I can continue this way.” 

Raonic, who made at least the quarter-finals at two of his four ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events this season (Indian Wells, Miami), is pursuing his first tour-level grass-court title. He hit 19 aces and lost just seven points on serve to move into the final eight. Raonic has not faced a break point in his first two matches. The Canadian leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Berdych 5-3.

Berdych snapped a five-match losing streak, defeating Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-6(3), 6-4 to set the battle against Raonic.

The No. 3 seed, who has reached back-to-back Wimbledon semi-finals, had not lost five consecutive matches since the end of 2004 through the beginning of 2005, when he dropped six in a row. At the time, the Czech was just 19 years old. But he bounced back on the Stuttgart grass, dropping just six first-serve points and saving the only break point he faced to move past the World No. 47. 

“It was a tough one. He’s a very talented player. You really don’t know until the last moment what’s going to come up. He’s very talented, all the shots he can make. For the first time after such a long time, to play him, it’s not easy. But I’m glad that I had a good test and I think I played very well throughout the whole match,” Berdych said.

Berdych now leads Paire 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series after defeating the Frenchman in their first meeting since Roland Garros in 2015. The Czech showed good form early in the season, reaching at least the quarter-finals at three of his first four tournaments. Berdych seeks his first ATP World Tour title since the Shenzhen Open in 2016.

Did You Know?
No. 7 seed Milos Raonic has won 92.2 per cent of first-serve points (59/64) through two matches in Stuttgart.

Eighth seed Feliciano Lopez, the serve-volleyer from Spain, beat France’s Gilles Simon 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour and 36 minutes on Thursday for a place in the MercedesCup quarter-finals. Lopez, who hit 16 aces, recovered from a 1-3 deficit in the first set and saved one set point at 5/6 in the tie-break, also beat Simon at the tournament last year en route to the final (l. to Pouille).

The 36-year-old Lopez has a 3-2 record in ATP World Tour grass-court finals, which includes the 2017 Fever-Tree Championships – his first 500-level tournament crown (6-11 finals record). He will next play fourth-seeded Australian Nick Kyrgios or Maximilian Marterer of Germany, who compete in the second round later today.

Top seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer booked their place in the MercedesCup quarter-finals on Wednesday, defeating John Millman and Guido Pella 7-6(3), 6-4 in Stuttgart.

Qureshi and Rojer won 53 per cent of return points and broke serve on three occasions to advance after 74 minutes. The Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell finalists headed into Stuttgart on a three-match losing streak after their final loss in Catalonia and back-to-back opening-match defeats at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open and Roland Garros.

Qureshi and Rojer will face Nick Kyrgios and Jackson Withrow for a spot in the semi-finals. The Australian-American duo defeated German wild cards Matthias Bachinger and Yannick Maden 7-5, 7-6(7).

Third seeds Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald took just 65 minutes to win their first-round clash against Hugo Nys and Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 6-3. Mirnyi and Oswald won 85 per cent of first-serve points (34/40) to confirm a quarter-final clash with Robert Lindstedt and Marcin Matkowski.

Inglot/Skugor Reach Semi-finals
Gazprom Hungarian Open champions Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor scored another straight-sets victory in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, defeating Fabrice Martin and Purav Raja 7-6(6), 7-5.

The British-Croatian duo advanced after 89 minutes, saving all five break points they faced in a tense quarter-final encounter. Inglot and Skugor had lost their past two matches prior to entering the tournament, but have refound the level that saw them lift their first team title in the Hungarian capital in April.

Inglot and Skugor will meet top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo or Dutch duo Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop for a place in the championship match.

Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus ended the challenge of Alex Bolt and Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 7-5. The Open 13 Provence titlists won 63 per cent of points behind their second serves and converted five of six break points to overcome the Australian duo in 74 minutes.

Klaasen and Venus will meet Matthew Ebden and Malek Jaziri in the quarter-finals. The unseeded pairing edged America’s Jamie Cerretani and Antonio Sancic of Croatia 5-7, 6-3, 10-4.

Did You Know?
Only one team has ever successfully defended their title at the MercedesCup or the Libema Open. Colin Dowdeswell and Frew McMillan are the only back-to-back Stuttgart titlists (1979-1980), while Martin Damm and Cyril Suk stand alone in ‘s-Hertogenbosch with three consecutive triumphs (2002-2004).