Bopanna & Dodig win opener in Shanghai

Fifth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Ivan Dodig registered a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win over Pedro Martinez and Pablo Carreno Busta to advance to the second round at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Friday.

After crashing in the opening round at the China Open last week, The Indo-Croatian duo raced to victory in one hour and three minutes on Court 6 in their first win as partners this year.

The pair dropped serve once, fired five aces, and saved four break points against their Spanish opponents. They also converted three break points.

They are set to face Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic or #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils and Ben Shelton in the next round.

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Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev stunned seventh seeds Neal Skupski and Michael Venus 7-5, 7-5 in one hour and 25 minutes in the first match on Court 7.

In the following match, Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin raced to a quick 6-2, 6-2 win against Alexander Bublik and Frances Tiafoe. The pair made 90 per cent of first serves and saved one break point to seal the match in 49 minutes.

Eighth seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram were tested by Brazilians Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo. After losing the first set, the Americans staged a comeback and won 4-6, 6-3, 14-12 in one hour and 24 minutes. They will next face Gonzalez & Roger-Vasselin.

Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni were also pushed to three sets by Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski. The Argentines won 7-6(4), 4-6, 10-6 in one hour and 52 minutes.

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