Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers didn’t put a foot wrong on Wednesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, not facing a break point as they reached the quarter-finals 6-1, 6-4 over Nikola Mektic and Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The eighth seeds will look to reach their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final of 2017 after going 0-3 in their previous quarter-final appearances (Miami, Monte-Carlo, Madrid).
Dodig/Granollers will next play Americans John Isner and Jack Sock, who defeated third seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 7-5, 6-3. Isner/Sock teamed up last October to win the Shanghai Rolex Masters (d. Kontinen/Peers).
In first-round matches, Joao Sousa and Fernando Verdasco defeated Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7(6), 6-4, 10-6. Sousa/Verdasco will face top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers for a place in the last eight.
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic also won their opening round over Treat Huey and Michael Venus 6-2, 3-6, 10-6. The Austrian-Croatian duo square off Thursday against sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.
