Murray & Peers save MP to advance to Beijing QFs

Qualifiers Jamie Murray and John Peers saved a match point against Brazilians Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo to win 7-6(7), 3-6, 12-10 Saturday and advance to the quarter-finals of the China Open in Beijing.

Murray and Peers, who reached the 2015 Wimbledon final, faced match point at 9/10 in the match tie-break, having squandered one of their own at 9/8. The duo recovered to win the next three points and seal the match in one hour, 53 minutes. They won 79 per cent of first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to victory.

Murray and Peers next face Francisco Cerundolo and Nicolas Jarry, who upset second seeds and Australian Open champions Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-5, 7-6(4). Flavio Cobolli and Lorenzo Musetti also shocked Neal Skupski and Michael Venus 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-7, with the Italians converting five of the nine break points they earned to down the fourth seeds.

Draper/Machac Reach Tokyo QFs
Jack Draper and Tomas Machac matched their last eight singles runs in Tokyo by reaching the quarter-finals in the doubles. The pair rallied to upset third seeds and recent Chengdu Open champions, Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul,  5-7, 6-2, 10-8 on Saturday at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships.

Draper and Machac won 84 per cent of their first-serve points to down the French duo, who sit 13th in the PIF ATP Doubles Race. Machac earlier caused another upset in his singles, overcoming Tommy Paul to advance to the last eight, where he faces #NextGenATP star Alex Michelsen.

Draper and Machac meet Ariel Behar and Robert Galloway next, who shocked top seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-7. Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool advanced to the quarter-finals via walkover after Ben Shelton and Jordan Thompson withdrew due to Thompson suffering a back injury.