Pablo Carreno Busta and Rafael Nadal reached the China Open semi-finals as they defeated local wild cards Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday in Beijing.
Carreno Busta is looking to reach his second ATP World Tour doubles final in as many weeks after finishing runner-up in Chengdu on Sunday (w/ Fyrstenberg). The 25 year old also made the US Open final last month (w/ Garcia-Lopez). Nadal, meanwhile, is chasing his second doubles triumph of the season after winning the gold medal with Marc Lopez at the Rio Olympics.
Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan survived a marathon opening round over Roberto Bautista Agut and David Ferrer, 6-1, 3-6, 16-14. They saved two match points at 10/11 and 11/12. The Bryan brothers are looking for their fourth ATP World Tour title of the season, having already prevailed in Houston, Barcelona and Rome.
Next up for them is Richard Gasquet and Lucas Pouille, who teamed up for a 4-6 6-4 10-6 victory over Mate Pavic and Michael Venus.
Second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo began their campaign with a 7-6(10), 6-3 victory over Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki. The Polish/Brazilian duo are bidding for their second ATP World Tour team title this week, having lifted the trophy in Vienna last year.
Another French team, Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, also won their first match by beating Milos Raonic and Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 7-5.