Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares finished a rain-delayed first round match on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The top seeds secured passage to the next round with a straight sets win at the Rio Open.
Top Seeds Coast in Rio Open Men's Draw
Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares finished their rain delayed opening match on Thursday. The top seeds at the Rio Open had no problems in taking out Fabiano de Paula and Orlando Luz. Melo-Soares won 6-2, 6-3 in just over an hour. They broke their opponents four times in the match, including three in the opening set. In other action in the men's draw, Rogerio Dutra Da Silva and Joao Souza narrowly defeated Guillermo Duran and Philipp Oswald 6-2, 6-7 (3), 10-8.
Thomaz Bellucci and Marcelo Demoliner won a tight affair over Aljaz Bedene and Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The match ended 6-7 (8), 7-6 (4), 10-4 in favor of the Brazilians. The final match of the day pitted Dominic Thiem and Dusan Lajovic against Alexandr Dogopolov and Daniel Munoz-De La Nava. Thiem-Lajovic scored the win 7-5, 7-5.
Pavic-Venus Continue Strong Form at Open 13
Second seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus were tested on Thursday in the Open 13 quarterfinals in Marseille. They bounced back from a set down to slip by Mateusz Kowalczyk and Andreas Siljestrom 2-6, 6-2, 10-7. The win is their sixth straight. Pavic-Venus match-up against Aliaksandr Bury and Igor Zelenay in one semifinal. In other quarterfinal play, Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming toppled Robin Haase and Aisam Ul-Haq Quereshi 6-3, 3-6, 11-9. Erlich and Fleming rallied from down 5-1 in the super tiebreak to book their spot in the second semifinal opposite of Nick Kyrgios and Temuraz Gabashvili. That pair defeated Julian Knowle and Marin Draganja 6-3, 6-4.
ATP Delray Beach Wrap-up
Third seeds Max Mirnyi and Treat Huey booked a semifinal spot in Florida with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Chris Guccione and Bernard Tomic. Mirnyi-Huey combined for seven aces and won 40 of 52 service points. They broke the Aussie pair once in each set. The only other doubles match of the day at the Delray Beach Open saw Leander Paes and Jeremy Chardy nip Marcel Granollers and Sam Groth 6-3, 4-6, 10-6. The win pushes Paes-Chardy into the semifinals where they await either the Bryan Brothers or Mikhail Kukushkin and Illya Marchenko.
Top Seeds Crash Out in Rio Women's Draw
Upsets continued to be the story in the Rio Open women's draw on Thursday. With two of the top three seeds already out of the tournament, top seeds Anastasia Rodionova and Stephanie Vogt joined the parade today. The top seeds fell victim to Mariana Duque-Marino and Tatjana Maria. The unseeded pairing won 7-6 (2), 4-6, 10-5. Wild card entries Alize Lim and Francesca Schiavone moved on to the semifinals with a 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 victory over Christina McHale and Anna Tatishvili. They will battle Tara Moore and Conny Perrin in an all-unseeded semifinal. Fourth seeds Veronica Cepede and Maria Irigoyen dropped serve three times in the opening set, but managed to slip by Paula Goncalves and Sanaz Marand 7-6 (5) in the opener, before pummeling them 6-0 in the second set.
Errani-Suarez Navarro Lead Semifinal Charge
Sara Errani and Carla Suarez Navarro continued their path toward the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title on Thursday. The unseeded pair beat Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng 6-4, 6-3. Errani and Suarez Navarro were all over Xu-Zheng's service games, winning 53 percent of the points off their opponents serves. Errani-Suarez Navarro battle Chia-Jung Chuang and Darija Jurak in one of the semifinals set in Dubai. Other quarterfinal action saw fourth seeds Timea Babos and Julia Goerges win in straight sets over Gabriela Dabrowski and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-4, 6-1. Babos-Goerges will go to war against second seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. The Frenchwomen eased past Coco Vandweghe and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the quarters by a final of 6-3, 6-1.