Frenchmen Doumbia/Reboul Down Top Seeds Koolhof/Skupski In Vienna
The unseeded duo of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul upset top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski on Wednesday at the Erste Bank Open, where the all-French pair clinched a Match Tie-break opening-round.victory.
Despite not creating a break chance in the match, the Frenchmen pulled out a 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-4 win by owning the crucial moments of the one-hour, 47-minute match. Doumbia and Reboul stayed within touching distance by saving nine of 11 break points they faced, and made their move late to earn the upset.
Fourth-seeded Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen were also knocked out at the ATP 500, with Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow scoring a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Lammons/Withrow face a crucial week in their quest to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. They are currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, just 25 points behind ninth-placed Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer and 35 points behind eighth-placed Jamie Murray and Michael Venus.
Arevalo and Rojer maintained their Turin push after they avoided becoming the third seeded pair to fall on Wednesday in Vienna. They defeated Nikola Mektic and John Peers 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-8 to set advance to face home wild card pair Sebastian Ofner and Philipp Oswald.
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Murray/Venus Back From The Brink In Basel
The fact that their closest Nitto ATP Finals qualification rivals had won in Vienna made Murray and Venus' dramatic late-night victory against Alexander Bublik and Adrian Mannarino at the Swiss Indoors Basel all the more important.
The fourth-seeded British-Kiwi duo rallied back from the brink in remarkable circumstances to reach the second round in Switzerland, saving three match points when Bublik and Mannarino led 6-4, 6-5 and 40/0 on serve, before prevailing 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-6.
Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski also advanced with a 7-6(5), 6-3 win against Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Robin Haase, while Alex de Minaur and Max Purcell beat Lloyd Glasspool and Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 7-6(5).