Top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers got their Internazionali BNL d’Italia campaign off to a flying start on Thursday, moving into the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Joao Sousa and Fernando Verdasco.
Kontinen/Peers scored the lone service breaks of each set at 6-5 to prevail in one hour and 27 minutes. They are looking to pick up their first ATP World Tour title since winning their first Grand Slam title this January at the Australian Open.
Next up for Kontinen/Peers are fifth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who continued their fine form with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Florin Mergea and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. Kubot/Melo have already won ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles this year in Madrid (d. Mahut/Roger-Vasselin) and Miami (d. Monroe/Sock).
Fourth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut came through a wild 6-2, 6-7(7), 12-10 match against Brian Baker and Nicholas Monroe to reach the last eight. Herbert/Mahut were unable to convert on two match points in the second-set tie-break at 6/5 and 7/6, and in the Match Tie-break at 9/8. The Frenchmen then saved a match point at 9/10 before advancing in one hour and 42 minutes.
They will next play Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas, who won an equally thrilling 4-6, 7-6(7), 10-8 match over seventh seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. Bopanna/Cuevas made good on their fifth set point to force a Match Tie-break and then wrapped up the contest on their third match point. The Indian-Uruguayan have been in fine form on the clay, prevailing last month at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Defending champions and second seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan advanced past another brother duo in Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev without hitting a ball, when Alexander withdrew due to fatigue. The Bryans are pursuing their fifth title in Rome.
Awaiting them in the quarter-finals are sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, who defeated Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-3, 6-4.