Doubles: the favourites set up a final four showdown
Plenty of entertainment, plenty of suspense and plenty of smiles as the men’s doubles draw moves into the semi-finals.
Court 1 was doubles territory on Friday at the Plenitude Arena, with all four quarter-finals taking place on the same place. The action certainly delivered, although surprises were harder to come by as the favourites largely took care of business.
The opening match of the day saw a convincing victory for Neal Skupski and Christian Harrison. The second seeds overcame Robert Cash and Brandon Nakashima in straight sets, 7-6(5), 6-4, after 1 hour and 21 minutes. Anyone hoping to stop the British-American duo, who claimed both the Australian Open and US Open titles this season, will need to bring their very best tennis.
That bodes well for their next opponents, Lucas Miedler and Neil Oberleitner, even if the Austrian pair had to dig deep on Friday. After dropping the opening set following a remarkable 26-point tie-break, they rallied to defeat Michael Venus and Petr Nouza 6-7(12), 6-4, 10-5. Champions in Shanghai before lifting the trophy in Vienna, Miedler and Oberleitner have now won 15 of their last 16 matches on tour.
French duo to face the defending champions
The Paris crowd then faced a difficult choice of allegiance. Four French players took to court 1 for the third quarter-final of the day, as Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Quentin Halys squared off against Albano Olivetti and Théo Arribagé.
The latter pair arrived in Paris full of confidence after their title run in Basel and, more importantly, after securing qualification for the ATP Finals. But it was Herbert and Halys who came through in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour and 10 minutes. Just as last year, the Frenchmen have earned their place in the final four at the Plenitude Arena.
Awaiting them is arguably the toughest challenge in men’s doubles: Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara, the world’s leading team and defending champions. The top seeds were pushed hard by another French pairing, Arthur Rinderknech and Benjamin Bonzi, but ultimately prevailed 7-5, 6-4 in 1 hour and 14 minutes.
Still as solid and clinical as ever in the biggest moments, Patten and Heliovaara look determined to retain their Paris crown for another year.