Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic have been one of the most successful doubles teams in 2018, and are showing once again that their partnership is paying dividends at the Miami Open presented by Itau.
Having started the season on a 17-match win streak, which was ultimately halted in the final in Rotterdam, the Austrian/Croatian duo has yet to let up. In Miami this week, they overcame a tricky opener against Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez, and faced another challenge in the second round against another team of matching surnames.
Nevertheless, Marach and Pavic were able to navigate their way past singles stars and brothers Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev, 7-6(5), 6-4 in one hour, 27 minutes. The win was their 23rd of the season, and they were able to generate 12 break points on their opponents’ serves, converting four.
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Earlier in the day, the former top-ranked doubles team of Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares was upset by the unseeded Russian pairing of Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev. The teams were evenly matched throughout, breaking serve just once per set, before Khachanov and Rublev ran away with the Match Tie-break, claiming a 6-4, 5-7, 10/2 victory to advance to the quarter-finals.
The upsets didn’t stop there – Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya knocked off No. 2 seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers from a set down, winning 3-6, 6-3, 10/2 in just over an hour. For the second time in as many weeks, Peya played spoiler to Kontinen and Peers, having upset them alongside Philipp Petzschner en route to the title at the Irving Challenger.
Elsewhere, the American partnership of Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey defeated veteran doubles players Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in a 7-6(5), 6-2 decision.
