Murray/Soares Set Delpo/Nishikori Clash In Madrid

Third seed Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares set up a second-round clash with the new pairing of Juan Martin del Potro and Kei Nishikori at the Mutua Madrid Open after dismissing Radu Albot and Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-0, 6-4 on Tuesday. Murray and Soares recently reached the final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (l. to Cabal/Farah).

Henri Kontinen and John Peers held on to defeat Australian wild cards Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic 6-2, 6-4 in the night match on Court Manolo Santana. Kyrgios and Tomic had a chance to extend the match with four break points in the final game, but were unable to capitalise against the No. 8 seeds.

Nikola Mektic claimed his first ATP Masters 1000 title last year with Alexander Peya in Madrid, and continued his winning ways as he teamed up with Franko Skugor on Tuesday. The Croatians led Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 7-6(4) before the Spaniards retired from the match.

Mektic and Skugor won the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters title three weeks ago, and will continue their chase for a second straight ATP Masters 1000 title when they next face Wesley Koolhof and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Dutch-Greek duo advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Marco Cecchinato and Marton Fucsovics.

Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, who finished at No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings in 2018, closed out a 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 win over Ivan Dodig and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Meanwhile, Robin Haase and Raven Klaasen prevailed against brothers Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev 7-6(6), 7-6(5)