Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who are eighth in the FedEx ATP Doubles Team Rankings, currently hold the final qualifying spot for the Nitto ATP Finals. This week at the St. Petersburg Open, they are doing well to give themselves breathing room.
The top seeds earned a 7-6(0), 3-6, 10-6 win on Thursday against Australians Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith to reach the St. Petersburg semi-finals.
The veteran duo will next play New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell and Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner, who were 6-0, 3-6, 10-7 winners against Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. Earlier in the day, Fritz defeated Paul in the singles draw.
Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the second seed in the singles field, and partner Rohan Bopanna of India, clawed past Russian stars Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 6-4, 5-7, 10-7.
Gille/Koepfer Upset Top Seeds In Vienna
The three doubles matches played at the Erste Bank Open on Thursday went to a Match Tie-break, and in one, the top seeds were upset.
Lucky losers Sander Gille of Belgium and Dominik Koepfer of Germany stunned top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 3-6, 7-6(2), 11-9.
In other action, second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, this year’s US Open champions, eliminated Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and two-time Roland Garros titlist Andreas Mies of Germany 6-3, 6-7(7), 10-6. Also advancing were third seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek, who ousted Austrian wild cards Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-4.
