Action at the Memphis Open was much less surprising on Wednesday as the expected favorites punched their tickets to the next round. In Rotterdam, Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo won the only doubles match on the schedule.
Dodig-Melo Cruise in Rotterdam
Wednesday was mainly a singles day at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, but there was one seeded team in action in doubles. Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo began their quest this week with a simple 6-2, 7-5 win over Bart Van Den Berg and Jesse Huta Galung. Dodig-Melo, the second seeds this week, broke early in the opening set to rush to a 2-0 lead. A faulty service game would see them give the break back to go back on serve at 2-1. After an exchange of service holds, the second seeds would strike again with a break and get one more to close out the set in 25 minutes.
The second set was much cleaner as both teams zipped through a bevy of service holds that saw the set meander to 6-5 in favor of Dodig-Melo. To that point, neither team had faced a break point in the set. In the 12th game though, it was the Dutch pair that fell behind on serve and soon found themselves down a pair of match points. Dodig-Melo would convert on the first chance. Dodig-Melo face a tough chore in round two as they face Henri Kontinen and John Peers. Kontinen-Peers won the Brisbane International men's doubles title in January.
No Repeat of Big Upsets in Memphis
After Tuesday saw the top two seeds eliminated from the men's draw, Wednesday saw a return to normalcy. Third seeds Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky won their opener at the Memphis Open 6-2, 7-6 (4) over Donald Young and Denis Kudla. Butorac-Lipsky won 43 of 54 service points and faced a lone break point in the match. They take on Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin in the quarterfinals. Marach-Martin took down Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy 7-5, 6-1. Paes' 2016 season remains a large struggle as he has dropped out of the Top 50 in the individual doubles rankings and lost three of four matches on the year.
Sofia champs Matwe Middlekoop and Wesley Koolhoff continued their stellar play. The Dutch pair didn't even need an hour to take care of Tomasz Bednarek and Adil Shamasdin in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. The unseeded duo take on Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals. The winner looking like the favorites to come through the bottom half of the draw after Tuesday's upsets. The final match of the night session saw the defending champions Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Santiago Gonzalez take care of business against Chris Guccione and Philipp Oswald. Fyrstenberg-Gonzalez won 7-5, 7-6 (7)
Top Seeds in Argentina Win Tight Opener
The number one seeds at the Argentina Open are through to the next round. Jean-Sebastien Cabal and Robert Farah defeated Marcelo Demoliner and Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (5), 6-2. Cabal-Farah got off to fast start as they broke Demoliner and Ramos-Vinolas in the first game of the opening set. Their opponents clawed their way back into the set by game eight as the set was leveled at 4-4. The top seeds would miss out on two chances in the 10th game to put the set away as it would up going to a tiebreak. Cabal-Farah would take five of the first six points and hold on to edge the breaker 7-5.
The second set was more simple as the top seeds again broke early, this time in the second game. They would consolidate to 3-0 and breeze their way to the straight sets win. Cabal-Farah won 33 of 39 first serve points and were able to save seven of eight break chances in the match. The top seeds battle Dusan Lajovic and Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals.
Other Argentina Open Results
Kretschmer-Satschko def. (2) Sa-M.Gonzalez 6-1, 7-5
Marrero-Moser def. Pella-Schwartzman 6-4, 2-6, 10-6
Cervantes-Lorenzi def. Andujar-Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-4
WTA Kaohsiung Results
(1) H. Chan -Y. Chan def. Xu-Diyas 6-1, 7-6 (5)
C.Hsu-Y.Lee def. K.Pliskova-Voegele 6-3, 6-1
Liang-Wang def. Chang-Chuang 7-6 (7), 7-5
WTA St.Petersburg Results
Bogdan-Kremen def. Jurak-Melichar 6-3, 5-7, 12-10
(4) Niculescu-Siegmund def. Olaru-Tig 6-3, 6-2