Metkic/Pavic March Into Miami Semi-finals
Second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic took one step closer to a Tour-leading fourth title of the year at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Wednesday, after cruising past Miomir Kecmanovic and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 6-2 into the semi-finals.
The Croatian team sits at No. 2 in the FedEx ATP Doubles Race To Turin after reaching the quarter-finals or better at all seven events they’ve contested in 2021. Along the way, Mektic and Pavic have lifted trophies at the Antalya Open, Murray River Open and the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. They also posted a semi-final run at the Australian Open, and a runner up finish in Dubai.
They used all of that experience against the unseeded Kecmanovic and Qureshi, who had upset eight seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the previous round. Mektic and Pavic did not face a break point, and instead converted four of the 12 opportunities they created to seal the victory in 55 minutes.
Mektic and Pavic will face Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the semi-finals. The seventh seeds took down young Americans Sebastian Korda and Michael Mmoh 7-5, 6-2 on Court 1.
Ram and Salisbury found themselves having to come back from 0-3 and save a set point after Korda and Mmoh made a fast start to the first set. But they settled into the contest, and reeled off five games in a row in the second to take back control after an hour and 19 minutes.
The defeat ends the American team’s dream run, and hands 20-year-old Korda the first defeat of his memorable Miami debut. He is still alive in singles, where he will contest his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final against Andrey Rublev on Thursday.
Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski secured the last spot into the semi-finals with a gutsy 6-7(6), 6-3, 11-9 victory over Marcelo Arevalo and Horia Tecau. With the Miami crowd firmly rallying behind the Salvadoran-Romanian team – who held one match point in the Match Tie-break – the Brits found a way through to win in an hour and 55 minutes.
Evans and Skupski will face fourth seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek for a shot at the championship match. Dodig and Polasek, who started the season lifting the Australian Open trophy, edged past Oliver Marach and Luke Saville 7-6(4), 6-4 on Monday to advance.