Doubles: Teams Battle In Paris For Last 2 Turin Spots
Three Nitto ATP Finals doubles contenders pushed their claims at the Rolex Paris Masters Thursday, but Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, who have already booked their spot in Turin, suffered an opening-round loss in Bercy.
Third seeds Arevalo and Rojer won the first set against Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray but slipped to a 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 defeat as Murray rallied to claim his 500th career match win.
After saving two match points, seventh seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara, who are next in line to qualify for Turin, converted their fourth match point in a narrow 6-3, 6-7(5), 15-13 victory over Daniel Evans and John Peers. Glasspool and Heliovaara, who are sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, will face Ebden and Murray in the quarter-finals Friday.
Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, seventh in the Race, extended their winning streak to nine by ousting German pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 7-6(5). Dodig and Krajicek won their previous two tournaments in Naples and Basel.
The Croatian-American duo will next meet top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the quarter-finals, a rematch from the Roland Garros quarter-final encounter, which Dodig and Krajicek won en route to a runner-up finish.
German Tim Puetz and Australian Michael Venus, who are ninth in the Race, escaped home favourites Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 3-6, 10-8.
Only two doubles qualification spots remain at the coveted Nitto ATP Finals.