Qatar ExxonMobil Open- Day 3 Doubles Roundup
Majority of seeded stars progress to doubles semifinals
Mitch Freeley
Images- Samer Al Rejjal
Top seeds, Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares made light work of the pairing of Borna Coric & Jan Lennard Struff to progress to the semi-finals 6-4, 6-4. Murray & Soares won three doubles titles on the ATP circuit in 2017 and will be aiming to win their first ever Doha title to make a dream start to 2018.
Second seeds Oliver Marach & Mate Pavic only needed two sets to progress to the semi-finals getting the better of Tuna Al Tuna of Tunisia & Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-2, 6-3.
Third seeds Feliciano Lopez & Rajeev Ram booked their place in the next round with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-2 victory over Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia & Andreas Haider Maurer of Austria. The pair wasted little time, losing just four matches and winning the tie in just 51 minutes of play.
Whilst the only shock of the day came when fourth seeds of Ivan Dodig & Fernando Verdasco bowed out of the competition to Pablo Carreno Busta & Guillermo Garcia Lopez. The Spanish pairing of Busta & Lopez took the initiative in the first set running out 6-3 winners. Dodig and Doha based Verdasco roared back in a tight set coming out on top 7-5. However, in the third set, the unseeded pairing edged out their opponents 10-7 on the tiebreak to progress to the semifinals.