At the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid, the doubles competition started late. But with two big surprises.
von tennisnet.com
last edited: May 1, 2024, 8:16 a.m
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Sebastian Korda caused a surprise in doubles in Madrid
No, you don’t necessarily have to blame the new format, according to which there are no breaks in the first set, for the fact that a few big surprises happened in Madrid in the first round of the doubles game. But since the focus is already on the compact format – games are played from Tuesday to Saturday – day one in the Caja Magica finally attracted attention.
It started with Benjamin Hassan and Abdullah Shelbayh. The two slipped into the 32-player grid via the quota reserved for single players. And then right at the start we take the fourth-seeded duo Austin Krajicek and Ivan Dodig out of the competition. With Jamie Murray and Michael Venus, the next pair skating experts are now waiting for Hassan/Shelbayh.
Korda and Thompson surprise
The amazement became even greater a few hours later. The pair of singles, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden, had to admit defeat to the doubles Sebastian Korda and Jordan Thompson with 6:7 (4) and 5:7. The success of Aslan Karatsev and Zhizhen Zhang against Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, the latter seeded fifth in Madrid, also falls into the “unexpected” category.
It remains to be seen how far the individual players’ legs will really carry them. Because the specialists don’t just give up their weapons. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz, for example, rushed into the second round with 6:2 and 6:2 against Robin Haase and Fabrice Martin (admittedly: also the current pure doubles player). The Monte Carlo champions Sander Gille and Joran Veilen have gotten rid of the Tsitsipas brothers – and are now asking for a summit meeting with the number two pair: Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. That screams “real” double.
Here is the double tableau in Madrid
2024-05-01 10:32:00
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