India's Leander Paes won't have a chance to add another doubles' title in Chennai this week. On Thursday, Paes and partner Marcel Granollers withdrew from the doubles draw after the Spaniard came down with an illness.
Chennai Draw Opens For Rajeev Ram and Raven Klaasen
Leander Paes and Marcel Granollers were forced out of the doubles draw due to an illness contracted by the Spaniard. For Paes, it's a disappointing end to his home tournament, where he had amassed a 33-9 mark in his career with six titles. The pair had won their opening round match against John Millman and Taro Daniel 6-3, 6-3. The main beneficiaries of today's withdraw of Paes-Granollers from the Aircel Chennai Open figures to be top seeds Rajeev Ram and Raven Klaasen.
Ram-Klaasen already looked to be solid favorites to win this week. Now with the second seeded pairing of Paes-Granollers out, only third seeds Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin remain from the original top four seeds other than Ram-Klaasen. The fourth seeded tandem of Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak fell in the opening round to N.Sriram Balaji and Ramkumar Ramanathan. Ram-Klaasen are slated to play Marach-Martin in the semifinals on Friday.
Top Ranked Team Falls in Doha
The shocker of the day came at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, Qatar. Top ranked Jean Julien-Rojer and Horia Tecau fell to fourth seeded Alexander Peya and Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (5), 6-2. Peya-Petzschner have had a dominant run so far this week, winning all six sets that they have played. It is a bright start for the first time partners who are scheduled be a regular pairing this season. For Rojer-Tecau, the loss snapped a seven match winning streak that dated back through last year's ATP World Tour Finals. That is where Rojer-Tecau were crowned the number one team and took home the title. Peya-Petzschner will battle veterans Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez for the title in Doha. The unrelated Lopezes upset second seeded Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 in the semifinals.
Brisbane Semifinals Both Feature Unseeded Teams
Both the ATP and WTA doubles draws in Brisbane have unseeded teams taking part in semifinal action on Friday. For the women, wild card entries Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic take on the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja. The Spanish team knocked off the 8th seeded Russian pairing of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina 2-6, 7-6 (8), 10-7 on Thursday. The Germans, Kerber-Petkovic, whipped Alize Cornet and Raquel Atawo 6-2, 6-0. The winner of that semifinal matches up against the winner of the match featuring top ranked Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza - fourth seeds Andreja Klepac and Alla Kudryavtseva. Hingis-Mirza have won 22 straight matches as well as winning titles in the last five tournaments that they played together in 2015.
For the men, unexpected success has come in the form of Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov in doubles play. Better known for their singles prowess, these two players have teamed up this week to knock off top seeded Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert to get to a semifinal showdown with unseeded Aussies, James Duckworth and Chris Guccione. Duckworth-Guccione took down third seeds Marcin Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot last round 3-6, 6-3, 10-4. The other semifinal features second seeds John Peers and Henri Kontinen against fourth seeds Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt. Both teams have won their two matches this week in straight sets.
Shenzhen and Auckland Also Hold Surprises
On the WTA stop in Shenzhen, China, the top seeds are still alive. Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng edged Americans Nicole Gibbs and Alison Riske 2-6, 6-3, 11-9 to advance ot the semifinals. They will face Cagla Buyukakcay and Aleksandra Krunic. The fourth seeds booked their spot in the semifinals on Wednesday with a 10-0 win in the super tiebreak over Shuai Peng and Chen Liang. The winner of that semifinal will take on the unseeded pairing of Vania King and Monica Niculescu. They advanced to the final with a 5-7, 7-6 (2), 10-5 win over Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig.
In Auckland, the top seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka were stunned in the opening round earlier this week by Kirsten Flipkens and Ana Ivanovic. Flipkens-Ivanovic withdrew though, allowing Elise Mertens and An-Sophie Mestach to slip into the semifinals. They took full advantage as they knocked out Maria Irigoyen and Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday 6-3, 7-6 (6). They await the winner of Friday's second semifinal. That pits Danka Kovinic and Barbora Strycova against New Zealand native Marina Erakovic and Silvia Soler-Espinosa. Erakovic and Soler-Espinosa took out second seeds Julia Goerges and Katarina Srebotnik in the quarterfinals in a stellar 14-12 super tiebreak.
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