Former champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert swept into the BNP Paribas Open second round on Sunday when the fifth seeds defeated Damir Dzumhur and Filip Krajinovic 6-1, 6-2 in just 46 minutes. From 1-1 in the first set, the French pair won nine straight games to a 4-0 advantage in the second set. They lost just nine of their service points. Two years ago, Mahut and Herbert captured their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells with a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the final. They have since compiled a 6-1 record in Masters 1000 finals and are 11-5 overall in championship matches. The team will now prepare to challenge Pablo...
Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut ended Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic’s unbeaten start to the 2018 season 2-6, 6-2, 10/7 to lift the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Sunday. The third seeds came from behind to hand the second seeds, who had won all 17 of their previous matches this season, their first defeat of 2018. Marach and Pavic had been bidding to win a fourth title of the season after earlier triumphs in Doha, Auckland and at the Australian Open, but it was the all-French duo who tasted victory after 68 minutes of play. “[Winning for] the first time with Pierre is something great,” said Mahut. “We are pretty happy about the week, we played so many...
FRANCE 2, BELGIUM 1 Lille, France (Indoor Hard) For a while, it appeared that Belgium was ready to shock the fans inside Stade Pierre Mauroy, as Joris De Loore and Ruben Bemelmans served for a two sets to one lead in Saturday's doubles rubber in Lille, France. But Richard Gasquet and Pierre-Hugues Herbert battled the whole way in front of their home crowd to defeat the Belgians 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 and move France within one match of capturing its 10th Davis Cup title. Belgium, which is in its second Davis Cup Final in three years and third overall, now must win both reverse singles rubbers to triumph in the tie and claim their first victory at the event. Yannick...
The O2 has not been the best venue for Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert the last two seasons, with the Frenchmen holding a 1-5 record in their first two Nitto ATP Finals appearances. But Herbert and Mahut got off to a good start in their third season finale, saving one match point to defeat Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, 1-6, 7-6(7), 10-8. Double faults proved costly for the Dutch-Romanian pairing, who looked the stronger duo for much of the match. At 7/7 in the second-set tie-break, Tecau hit a double fault to allow Herbert to serve out the set, which he did when Mahut put away a sitting return with a backhand volley. [ALSO LIKE] In the Match Tie-break, Rojer...
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut will attempt to earn their first Nitto ATP Finals trophy when they arrive at The O2 for the third time this November. The Frenchmen join Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo, defending champions Henri Kontinen/John Peers, 2015 winners Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau, Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares, four-time season finale champions Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan and Roland Garros winners Ryan Harrison/Michael Venus in the 2017 field. Herbert and Mahut qualified for the event, to be held from 12-19 November, for the third year in a row, and are seeking their first appearance in the semi-finals. The Frenchmen won at least two titles for the third consecutive year in 2017, with each of the victories coming at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000...
