Thiem & Schwartzman Win Madrid Doubles Opener

Diego Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem may be known for their efforts on the singles court, but they got off to a good start in doubles on Sunday when they pulled away from Spanish wild cards David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-3, 10-3 to reach the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open.

It is the fourth time the Argentine and Austrian have competed together, and it is their first ATP Masters 1000 tournament as a team. Schwartzman and Thiem made the Argentina Open final in February. Against home favourites Marrero and Verdasco, they won 84 per cent of their first-serve points en route to an 80-minute victory.

In the next round, Schwartzman and Thiem will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Russian Karen Khachanov, who upset fourth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-2, 7-5. Cabal and Farah, 2018 Nitto ATP Finals semi-finalists, have made the Madrid semi-finals twice, but Dimitrov and Khachanov broke serve four times to advance after 80 minutes, just like Schwartzman and Thiem. 

Juan Martin del Potro and Kei Nishikori will be in doubles action on Monday against Fabio Fognini and Robert Lindstedt, with five-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan facing 2016 titlists Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.