ALL THINGS ATP

Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan suffered a shock opening-round defeat at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday as they were ousted by Eric Butorac and Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 in 62 minutes.

The Americans saw their 11-match winning streak come to an end. They came into Shanghai having won the US Open title (d. Paes/Stepanek), earned a point for the United States in its Davis Cup semi-final clash with Spain and triumphed at last week’s China Open in Beijing (d. Berlocq/Istomin). It is their earliest tournament defeat since losing in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open in May (l. to Qureshi/Rojer).

Butorac and Petzschner are playing their second ATP World Tour event together; they had beaten Thomaz Bellucci and Bernard Tomic for the loss of just one game in the first round.

Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins won just their second match at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament when the British duo defeatedFabio Fognini and Martin Klizan 5-7, 6-4, 10-5 in 80 minutes. Fleming and Hutchins are contesting their fifth tournament at this level (2-4 record).

First-time pairing Jurgen Melzer and Milos Raonic broke serve five times as they dismissed Chinese wild cards Yu Chang and Zhe Li 6-1, 6-4. Earlier in the day, Raonic had lost a 2hr., 40min., singles second-round match to Marcos Baghdatis in three tie-break sets.

Pablo Andujar and Feliciano Lopez won an all-Spanish clash 6-3, 6-4 overDavid Marrero and Fernando Verdasco in 64 minutes. Andujar and Lopez won 40 of their 47 service points.  Meanwhile, Marin Cilic and Marcelo Melo advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 victory overCarlos Berlocq and Andreas Seppi.  

Americans Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan moved into the third round of theUS Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win Friday over Eric Butorac and Paul Hanley. The No. 2 seeds converted four of their six break points for the 58-minute victory.

The three-time US Open champions are chasing their first Grand Slam title of the season after runner-up finishes at the Australian Open (l. to Stepanek/Paes) and Roland Garros (l. to Mirnyi/Nestor) and a semi-final exit at Wimbledon (l. to Marray/Nielsen).

Fifth seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek closed out a 7-5, 7-6(3) win over Brazilians Thomaz Bellucci and Joao Souza in one hour and 45 minutes. The Czech-Indian duo won the hard-court titles at theAustralian Open and Sony Open Tennis earlier this year.

They go on to face Jesse Levine and Marinko Matosevic, who ousted 11th seeds and Wimbledon champions Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen6-1, 6-7(6), 6-4. Levine and Matosevic are teaming up for the first time in tour-level action. 

Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, the No. 6 seeds, prevailed against Lukasz Kubot and Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-7(7), 7-6(4) to secure their place in the third round. Granollers and Lopez recently reached the hard-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Toronto (l. to Bryan-Bryan).

Second seeds Bob Bryan andMike Bryan prevailed against Frenchmen Arnaud Clement andMichael Llodra 7-6(5), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 in a third-round meeting between former champions on Wednesday at Wimbledon.

The Bryans held a comfortable lead when play resumed at two-all in the third set Wednesday, but dropped serve in each the third and fourth sets to allow the Frenchmen to draw level. They recovered with two breaks of serve in the 30-minute fifth set to claim their spot in the quarter-finals.

The 34-year-old American twins are two-time Wimbledon titlists, winning in 2006 and 2011, while Clement and Llodra captured the crown in 2007.

The Bryans will next face countrymen Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram, who advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Australian wild cards Chris Guccione and Lleyton Hewitt. Lipsky and Ram are through to their third Grand Slam quarter-final, also reaching this stage last year at Roland Garros and in January at the Australian Open.

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Fifth seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau, finalists the past two years at Wimbledon, resumed their third-round match in the second set and clinched a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(4) victory over Belgians Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus.

Meanwhile, 2011 champions and 10th seeds Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner battled past Mikhail Elgin and Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7(9), 16-14 in three hours and 45 minutes. Elgin and Istomin were unable to capitalise on their six break point chances in the 105-minute fifth set.

The wild card pairing of Great Britain’s Jonathan Marray and Denmark’sFrederik Nielsen became the first team to book their place in the semi-finals as they held on to defeat the American-French duo of James Cerretani and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 2-6, 6-2.

Marray became the first Briton to reach the doubles semi-finals for 35 years. Mark Cox had been the last Briton to reach the last four in 1977

Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan will bid to lift their 78th tour-level title on Saturday in the final of the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur.

The Americans defeated third seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 6-4 in 72 minutes for their 25th win in 30 matches this year. The Bryans saved all three break points they faced and lost 12 points on their serve. Qureshi and Rojer won the Estoril Open title earlier this month (d. Knowle-Marrero) and two weeks ago upset the Bryans in Madrid after winning a dramatic 18-16 Match Tie-break..

In the second semi-final, Oliver Marach and Filip Polasek reached their first ATP World Tour final as a doubles team after they scraped past Paul Hanley and Julian Knowle 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 in one hour and 47 minutes. The duo converted four of their 14 break point opportunities.