Arthur Fils and Nicolas Jarry earned a hard-fought victory Thursday at the Cincinnati Open, where they overcame second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-8 to reach the quarter-finals.
Teaming for the second consecutive week, Fils and Jarry, who lost in the Montreal first round, saved the two break points they faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Bopanna and Ebden, fourth in the PIF ATP Live Doubles To Turin, led 8/6 in the Match Tie-break before Fils and Jarry tallied four consecutive points to advance.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden during Thursday's action in Cincinnati. Credit: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour
The French-Chilean duo will meet fifth seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori or Ivan Dodig and Jamie Murray in the last eight.
In other Match Tie-break action, Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski downed defending champions Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 3-6, 7-5, 10-5 while Neal Skupski and Michael Venus defeated sixth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 2-6, 10-4.
Though it was not the result for which Gonzalez and Molteni had hoped, Molteni struck a shot of the season contender early in the second set. The Argentine miraculously hit the ball around the net post with a one-handed stab that painted the sideline.
Third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who won the ATP Masters 1000 event in 2022, survived Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 7-6(4), 7-6(3). Fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic ousted Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(2).
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