Top seeds Alexander Peya and Philipp Petzschner were sent packing today in Sofia, Bulgaria. Three of the top four seeds overall were eliminated on Wednesday.
Sofia Stunners
The upheaval in the men's doubles draw at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open continued on Wednesday. Top seeds Alexander Peya and Philipp Petzschner are out after being beaten by Lukas Rosol and Mariusz Fyrstenberg 6-3, 6-3. Rosol and Fyrstenberg struck with an early break in the opening set for a quick 2-0 lead. They would roar through most of the remainder of the set until the 7th game where they fought off three break chances. Rosol-Fyrstenberg would remain rock solid on serve in the second as they won 72 percent of their service points overall and never saw their serves broken. They scored the decisive break in the 7th game and would break again in the 9th game to close out the set and match at 6-3.
Second seeds Marin Draganja and Julian Knowle were also upset victims by an identical 6-3, 6-3 score line. They were beaten by Viktor Troicki and Ilija Bozolac. The two Serbs controlled the match with stout serving as they won 92 percent of their first serve points. They faced just one break chance and fought it off. Draganja-Knowle struggled in the opening set to land their first serves, which left Troicki and Bozoljac to pounce for 10 key points out of 18 off their second serves. Troicki-Bozoljac would break twice in the first set and then secure the lone break in the second set off of one break chance to get the win.
The upsets continued with the fourth seeds also being taken down. Sergey Betov and Mikhail Elgin dropped a 5-7, 7-5, 10-5 decision to Tuna Altuna and Konstantin Kravchuk. Elsewhere, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Lukas Dlouhy edged Hyeon Chung and Matthew Ebden 6-3, 7-6 (5). Philipp Oswald and Adil Shamsdin were also winners on Wednesday. They defeated Aliaksandr Bury and Igor Zelenay 6-3, 6-2. With the slew of upsets, third seeds Matwe Middlekoop and Wesley Koolhof are the only seeded team left. They face Stakhovsky-Dlouhy in the quarterfinals.
Defending Champions Out in Montpellier
New Zealand's Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell are done after just one match at the Open Sud de France. The defending champions were ousted by Marc Lopez and Andrea Arnaboldi in a super tiebreak. Lopez-Arnaboldi took four points off the Kiwis serves in the decisive breaker to secure a 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 win. Top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski survived a scare from Paul-Henri Mathieu and Vincent Milliot. The French pair forced Kubot-Matkowski into a super tiebreak, but it was the top seeds rallying all the way back from a set down to take the match 4-6, 7-6 (3), 10-5. The top seeds took six of the last seen points to edge through in the super breaker.
In other first round action, second seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus topped Dustin Brown and Rameez Junaid 6-3, 6-4. Matuesz Kowalczyk and Andreas Siljestrom were winners on Wednesday. They took down Johan Brunstrom and Ruan Roelofse 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 10-7. The final doubles match of the day saw Mahesh Bhupathi and Jonathan Marray emerge victorious against Tomasz Bednerik and Denis Istomin 6-3, 3-6, 10-6.
Ecuador Open Quito Round-up
Two semifinal spots were sewn up on Wednesday in Quito, Ecuador. Andrej Martin and Hans Podlipnik-Castilo advanced with a win over Horacio Zeballos and Julio Peralta 6-4, 6-4. The other semifinal spot was taken by Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Duran. They defeated Joao Souza and Victor Estrella Burgos 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 10-7. Other action saw Brazilians Thomaz Bellucci and Marcelo Demoliner run past Inigo Cervantes and Paolo Lorenzi 5-7, 6-3, 10-6. Third seeds Nicholas Monroe and Austin Krajicek got a free pass into the quarterfinals when Alejandro Falla and Albert Ramos Vinolas withdrew.