The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships saw its top two seeded teams taken out on Wednesday. 2015 semifinalists Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, this year's top seeds, were handled in straight sets by Spaniards Marc and Feliciano Lopez.
Dubai Seeds Dumped by Experienced Duos
The top seeded pairs in Dubai are out. Number one seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau will have to wait until their next tournament to search for their first final of 2016. Rojer-Tecau fell to unseeded Spaniards Marc and Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Team Lopez did a masterful job of saving break points in this one as a large deciding factor in the outcome. The Spaniards saved nine of ten break chances, while the top seeds saved only half of their six break points. That made the difference in a match where both teams won exactly 58 points each.
Second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea fell to Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in first round play. Nestor-Stepanek bounced back after dropping the first set to secure a 3-6, 7-6 (6), 10-4 win. The loss continues a poor start for Bopanna-Mergea, who made the championship match at last year's ATP World Tour Finals. They opened 2016 well with a finals loss in Sydney, but are just 3-3 since the Apia International Sydney.
Fourth seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers were also taken down in opening round play. Jamie Murray and Tommy Robredo teamed up to score the 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 win. Qualifiers Hyeon Chung and Jiri Vesely knock out Roberto Bautista Agut and Joao Sousa 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 11-9. Chung-Vesely are into the semifinals where they will face Team Lopez. Also winning on Wednesday were Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski. They edged Ivan Dodig and Marin Draganja 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.
French Seeds Stunned in Doha
Third seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic are headed out of Doha. They were shocked by Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk 6-4, 6-4 in second round action. The Frenchwomen were poor on serve, losing 56 percent of the points played off their own serves. The third seeds were broken six times on 12 chances. Fourth seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan had no problem in defeating Chin-Wei Chan and Katalin Marosi 6-2, 6-1. The Chans won an astounding 71 percent of the points off of Chan and Marosi's serves.
Elsewhere, sixth seeds Timea Babos and Julia Goerges were awarded the walkover win as Petra Kvitova and Barbora Strycova withdrew. That came after Kvitova was dumped out of the singles draw by Julia Ostapenko in three sets and complained of being fatigued. Seventh seeds Racquel Atawo and Abigail Spears were also upset victims on Wednesday. Gabriela Dabrowski and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez pulled off that feat with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win.
Joining Atawo-Spears on the sidelines are 8th seeds Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik. Daria Kasatkina and Elena Vesnina sprung the upset on Klepac-Srebotnik 6-4, 6-4. The 8th seeds were another pair that did not even win half their points on serve, taking just 45 percent of the points. One last result for the day saw Sara Errani and Carla Suarez Navarro outlast Margarita Gasparyan and Monica Niculescu 3-6, 6-2, 10-7.
Brasil Open Delayed Due to Rain
Play in Sao Paulo was suspended several times on Wednesday due to rainfall, with two singles matches as the only ones to get started. The tournament switched to an outdoor venue this season after playing indoors from 2012 to 2015. The result today was the delay of four scheduled doubles matches. That included top seeds Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares who were set to take on Nicolas Almagro and Eduardo Russi Assumpcao. Third seeds Andre Sa and Maximo Gonzalez were also forced to wait at least a day to hit the court. Sa-Gonzalez will meet Italians Paolo Lorenzi and Mario Cecchinato in first round play.
Abierto Mexicano Telcel Update
With the late starts in Acapulco, just one match has been completed in the men's draw at the time of this writing today. That saw Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming ended the eight match win streak of Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 4-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9. After Erlich and Fleming were broken in their opening service games in the opening set, they revved up their service games for the remainder of the match. They would face just one break point the rest of the way, saving that in the second set. In the super tiebreak, they would drop just a single point out of 11 service points.
Other matches scheduled for this evening include top seeds Jean-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah battling Dutch duo Robin Haase and Thiemo de Bakker. Second seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram are also in action, as they battle Americans Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky. On the women's side, three matches will take place later tonight. None will involve seeded teams.
ATP Acapulco Tuesday Night Results
Muller-Bedene def. Middlekoop-Koolhoff 6-3, 3-6, 10-7
Fyrstenberg-S.Gonzalez def. S.Johnson-Querrey 6-4, 4-6, 10-6
WTA Acapulco Tuesday Night Results
Pavlyuchenkova-Wickmayer def. V.Rodriguez-Zarazua 6-3, 6-4
(2) Bertens-Larsson def. Konta-Watson 3-6, 7-6 (2), 10-8