Top seeds Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez were upset victims on Tuesday in Marseilles as two of the top four seeds are out at the Open 13.
Top Seeds Scalped in Marseilles
Tuesday's action saw a pair of seeds taken down in round one, including top seeds Marc and Feliciano Lopez. The Spaniards were narrowly beaten by Aisam Ul-Haq Quereshi and Robin Haase 7-6 (8), 7-6 (6). Fourth seeds Matwe Middlekoop and Wesley Koolhoff also fell today. They were dominated by Allaksandr Bury and Igor Zelenay 6-3, 6-2. The fourth seeds struggled on-serve all match as they faced 13 break points, saving ten. Their opponents won 33 of 40 first serve points and never saw a break chance against their serves.
Second seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus continue their solid form. The recent Open Sud de France champions edged Lukas Dlouhy and Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 2-6, 10-7. The final doubles match of the day featured Colin Fleming and Jonathan Erlich. The duo slipped past Tomasz Bednarek and Adil Shamasdin in straight sets 7-6 (0), 6-2. Third seeds Nicolas Mahut and Lucas Pouille will lead the scheduled doubles action on Wednesday in France. They are up against Nick Kyrgios and Temuraz Gabashvili.
Second Seeds Done in Delray Beach
Day one in Florida saw some scattered rain, but all three doubles matches did finish. In the opener, Mikhail Kukushkin and Illya Marchenko scored a tight win over Bjorn Fratangelo and Denns Novikov 1-6, 6-3, 10-5. Sam Groth and Marcel Granollers were also winners. Groth-Granollers took down Frank Moser and Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-3. The final doubles match on Monday saw an upset with Americans Donald Young and Denis Kudla getting the scalp over second seeds Rajeev Ram and Raven Klaasen 6-4, 7-6 (4). Young-Kudla fought back from a break down at 3-1 in the second set to force a decisive tiebreak. The would get a break on the first service point of the breaker as serves held the rest of the way for the Americans' victory. On Tuesday, just one doubles match took place. Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin made quick work of Ricardas Berankis and Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-2.
Rainy Rio
Rain caused play to be delayed on Monday in Rio de Janeiro with many matches forced to be rescheduled today. As a result, only two doubles matches were completed yesterday. Both came in the women's draw where second seeds Marina Erakovic and Silvia Soler Espinosa got away to a winning start. They defeated Carolina M. Alves and Heidi El Tabakh 6-2, 6-2. The second seeds faced just a single break point and saved it. They were spot on, winning 32 of 42 service points. The other match completed saw Brazilian Paula Cristina Goncalves and American Sanaz Marand outlast Julia Glushko and Rebecca Peterson 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.
On Tuesday, two matches finished up before the first rain delay of the day. Alize Lim and Francesca Schiavone whipped third seeds Donna Kovinic and Andreea Mitu 6-4, 6-1. The second match of the day saw Conny Perrin and Tara Moore crush Laura Pigossi and Cindy Burger 6-2, 6-1. Following the first rain delay, doubles action continued with Veronica Cepede and María Irigoyen, Mariana Duque-Marino and Tatjana Maria, Christina McHale and Anna Tatishvili all advancing to round two. A final doubles match was delayed after one set with Anastasia Rodionova and Stephanie Vogt leading leading Beatriz Haddad Maia and Teliana Pereira after winning the opening set in a tiebreak.
Dubai Doubles Recap
The week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships started with the top seeds crashing out on Monday. Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yaroslava Shvedova fell victim to Sara Errani and Carla Suarez Navarro, who entered the draw as an unseeded pair. Errani and Suarez Navarro edged the match 6-0, 4-6, 10-6. Elsewhere, Yi -Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng won on Monday 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 over Fatma Al Nabhani and Tsvetana Pironkova 4-6, 6-2, 10-8.
Tuesday's busy slate in Dubai saw another big upset with third seeds Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova taken down by Katarna Srebotnik and Andreja Klepac. The veterans Srebotnik and Klepac escaped with a 5-7, 7-6 (3), 10-8 victory. In other action, second seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic avoided the upset run by beating Racquel Atawo and Abigail Spears 6-2, 6-3. Garcia-Mladenovic broke their opponents five times on 11 chances. Other results today saw Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Coco Vandeweghe, Chia-Jung Chuang and Darija Jurak, and Gabriela Darbrowski and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez emerge as victorious teams headed to the second round.