Gille/Vliegen Dream Run Continues At Roland Garros

Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen broke new ground on Monday at Roland Garros, where the Belgian duo reached their maiden Grand Slam semi-final as a team by downing 14th seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4, 7-6(4).

Gille and Vliegen outhit their 14th-seeded opponents by 34 winners to 26 on the way to a 99-minute victory on Court Simonne-Mathieu. They rallied from 1-4 in the second set to force a tie-break, in which they won five of the final six points to seal their win.

The unseeded duo is chasing its third tour-level crown of the season (Pune, Estoril) in Paris this fortnight. The pair has risen five spots to ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings as a result of their run in the French capital.

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Their next opponents will be Matwe Middelkoop and Andreas Mies, who ended the Roland Garros reign of 2022 winners Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer with a 7-6(6), 6-1 triumph at the clay-court major.

Middelkoop and Mies saved a set point in the 12th game en route to winning the opening set of the quarter-final clash before they accelerated through the second set for a one-hour, 55-minute victory. Middelkoop and Mies, who is a two-time Roland Garros champion, arrived in Paris with a 1-3 record for the year as a team but have not dropped a set on the way to the final four.