Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini did double duty Thursday as they won two matches at the Sydney Tennis Classic to reach the semi-finals.
Firstly, the Italians upset fifth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-6 in two hours, before they won 86 per cent (37/43) of their first-serve points en route to a 7-5, 7-5 quarter-final victory against Fabrice Martin and Jonny O’Mara
Bolelli and Fognini will face Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz in the last four after the sixth seeds moved past Facundo Bagnis of Argentina and Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico 6-4, 6-3 in 68 minutes.
Earlier in the day, second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah reached the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-5 victory against Jiri Vesely and Szymon Walkow. However, the Colombians were unable to follow in the footsteps of Bolelli and Fognini and win two matches in one day, losing to Alexei Popyrin and Matt Reid.
The Australians fired seven aces as they earned a 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-7 victory. They will meet John Peers and Filip Polasek after the third seeds saved two match points in the Match Tie-break at 8/9 and 10/11 against Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi to advance 3-6, 6-3, 14-12 after 84 minutes.
Dodig/Melo Move Through In Adelaide
Second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo clawed past Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 to book their spot in the semi-finals at the Adelaide International 2.
The Croatian-Brazilian tandem will next play Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski after the third seeds moved past Oscar Otte and Benoit Paire. The German-French pair were forced to retire after 41 minutes when trailing 4-6, 0-1.
Tomislav Brkic and Nikola Cacic defeated fourth seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-2, 6-3, while Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar beat Australians Aaron Addison and Thomas Fancutt 3-6, 7-5, 10-6. Brkic and Cacic will next meet Behar and Escobar.
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
