This Thursday’s round of the Australian Open men’s doubles group had three Brazilians on the court, but only Marcelo Demoliner managed to survive the debut of the first Grand Slam of the season. Rafael Matos and Thiago Monteiro, also from Rio Grande do Sul, said goodbye in the first phase in Melbourne.
In a duel of three tiebreaks, Demoliner and the Italian Andrea Vavassori beat the Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen by 6/7 (7-5), 7/6 (4-7) and 7/6 (10-4). The victory could have come more easily, as the Belgian duo managed to save three set-points in the first part.
With 34 years just turned last Wednesday, Demoliner plays his seventh Australian Open and has the best results in the round of 16 in 2017 and 2019. He currently appears only in 125th place in the ranking among specialists in doubles. The next rivals will be the Spaniard Marcel Granollers and the Argentine Horacio Zeballos.
In another three-set match, Matos and the Spaniard David Vega Hernandez were the 13th seeds in the tournament, but did not confirm their favoritism. After winning four ATP tournaments last season, they were bested by Monegasque Hugo Nys and Poland’s Jan Zielinski 6/7 (4-7), 6/4 6/4. Nys and Zielinski could face Australians Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell or Austrian Philipp Oswald and Argentine Guillermo Duran. Rafael Matos is still in Melbourne and will play mixed doubles with Luísa Stefani.
Already Thiago Monteiro and the Spaniard Pedro Martinez lost a duel of two tiebreaks for the South Africans Raven Klaasen and Lloyd Harris for 7/6 (7-5) and 7/6 (11-9). The partnership between Monteiro and Martinez reached two set-points in the first set, when they were winning by 6/5, and four more chances in the tiebreak of the second set. The executioners can face the Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini or the French Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia.
Another Brazilian remaining in the men’s doubles bracket is Marcelo Melo, who should only enter the court on Friday. The man from Minas Gerais plays alongside the American Mackenzie McDonald and debuts against the Croatian Ivan Dodig and the American Austin Krajicek, seeded 5 in Melbourne.
