Ram/Salisbury Advance To Roland Garros Third Round

Top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury are in top form at Roland Garros. The American-British duo moved past Miomir Kecmanovic and Nicholas Monroe 6-3, 7-6(5) to reach the third round on Friday without dropping a set.

After arriving in Paris on a three-match losing streak, Ram and Salisbury have displayed the tennis that helped him clinch their first ATP Masters 1000 clay-court crown last month in Monte Carlo (d. Cabal and Farah). They’ll play Maxime Cressy and Feliciano Lopez for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos finished convincingly in their 6-2, 5-7, 6-0 win over Adrian Mannarino and Albano Olivetti. Granollers and Zeballos have rebounded strongly after a disappointing clay swing that saw them arrive with a 1-3 record. Next up for them are Jonny O’Mara and Jackson Withrow, who defeated Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori 7-6(7), 7-6(4).

The popular pairing of Alexander Bublik and Thanasi Kokkinakis also advanced to the third round by defeating Marton Fucsovics and Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-3. Kokkinakis won his first Grand Slam doubles title at this year’s Australian Open (w/Kyrgios) and Bublik finished runner-up last year at this event (w/Golubev). Standing between them and a quarter-final spot is Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.

Mackenzie McDonald and Tommy Paul scored the upset of the day by defeating No. 10 seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3. Other teams to reach the third round on Friday include No. 7 seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus, No. 12 seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, and Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.