Three of the top four seeded teams in the men's doubles draw at the Australian Open were in action on a rain-delayed Friday. All three teams won their matches in straight sets with Bob and Mike Bryan again looking impressive in their victory over Mahesh Bhupathi and Gilles Muller. Second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo also cruised into the third round.
ATP: Dodig-Melo Lead Seeded Win Parade
Six seeded teams in the men's doubles draw were in action on Friday in second round play at the Australian Open. The tournament's second seeds, Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, were up against Donald Young and Austin Krajicek. Young-Krajicek had pulled off a mild upset in the opening round by beating ASB Classic champions Michael Venus and Mate Pavic. Against Dodig-Melo, they did not offer up a repeat performance. The second seeds scored the opening break of the match in the 4th game of the first set. They would cruise to a 6-2 set win. Young and Krajicek struggled with their second serves as Dodig-Melo dominated for seven key points out of nine second serves. Dodig-Melo were barely troubled on serve, winning 16 of 19 points.
The second set would hold on serve through five games before Dodig-Melo broke through. At 4-2, they almost gave that right back, but were able to fight off two break points. The second seeds would close the set out in their final service game to complete the 6-2, 6-3 win. Melo said in his post-match comments that the rain delays were challenging, “We warmed up five or six times. Twice we were just about to go on court and the rain came back. I came to the courts at 8am and finally got on court at 5:30pm. So there were many hours waiting, but we are happy to play as well as we played after all that. We are very happy to be in the third round."
In other action, the third seeded Bryan Brothers looked impressive on serve again. The Bryans dominated Mahesh Bhuphati and Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-2. The brothers won 82 percent of their first serve points and again did not face a single break point. Bhupathi-Muller had a few too many errors with 13 unforced, while the Bryans had just three to go along with 24 winners. The Bryans face 13th seeded Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram in the third round. Klaasen-Ram won a three set thriller over Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Klaasen-Ram won just three more points that Querrey-Johnson, 96 to 93. They played a very clean final set to propel them to victory with 19 winners and just six unforced errors. Querrey-Johnson racked up 14 unforced errors in the third set.
Fourth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea eliminated Lukas Dlouhy and Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-2. Bopanna-Mergea dished out 28 winners against just seven unforced errors. They saved all three break points they saw, while converting three of seven against Dlouhy-Vesely. Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi came through a hard fought three set match against Thomaz Bellucci and Marelo Demoliner of Brazil. The 14th seeds, Huey-Mirnyi, rallied after dropping the opening set to win 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-4. They will face Bopanna-Mergea in the next round. Ninth seeds Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock never saw the court on Friday. PopSock received a walkover as Robin Haase and Fernando Verdasco withdrew.
Rain Shortened WTA Slate Sees Srebotnik-Babos Lose
A late start to Friday's action due to rainfall in Melbourne meant that only four women's matches would finish. The fourth seeds, Katarina Srebotnik and Timea Babos, were upset victims. They fell to Su-Wei Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova in three sets. The unseeded duo were more clinical in their break point conversions as they took four of five, while Srebotnik-Babos were only able to break twice on six chances. Hsieh-Kalashnikova fought off match point in the 10th game of the final set, before breaking to win the match in the 12th.
Tenth seeded Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Aranxta Parra Santonja crushed Americans Irina Falconi and Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the third round. The 10th seeds saved all four of their break points and racked up 27 winners. In other matches, 2015 champion Bethanie Mattek-Sands is out of the tournament. Mattek-Sands and Sabine Lisicki fell in three sets to the Rodionova sisters from Australia. Alina and Anastasia pulled out the win in a decisive tiebreak 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5). Dominika Cibulkova and Kirsten Flipkens booked a second round spot after beating Madison Keys and Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 7-5. They face the Rodionovas in the next round.
Hewitt Seeks to Extend Stay in Melbourne
While Lleyton Hewitt's singles career is over after he lost in the second round to David Ferrer, he is still alive in the men's doubles draw. Hewitt is pairing with Sam Groth. The two Aussies will face 8th seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers. It's the last match of the day scheduled at Hisense Arena, so the crowd should be at a fever pitch. Other matches of note scheduled for Saturday include top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in action against the Kichenok sisters. Hingis-Mirza own a 31 match winning streak heading into that second round clash. Defending men's champions Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini continue defense of their title as they face Adrian Mannarino and Lucas Pouille. Your upset alert match of the day on the men's side pits 12th seeds Jean-Sebastien Cabal and Robert Farah against Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin.