Rome Italy) – Runners-up at the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo, Marcelo Melo from Minas Gerais and the German Alexander Zverev returned to play together at the Masters 1000 in Rome and showed their strength right away. Opening their campaign against North American Austin Krajicek and Great Britain Neal Skupski, they got the better of the 4 seeds in three tough sets, with the final score of 7/6 (7-0), 6/7 (5- 7) and 11-9.
After spending 2h16 to get through the first round, Melo and Zverev will face Kazakh Alexander Bublik and North American Ben Shelton, who eliminated the duet formed by North American Frances Tiafoe and Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime with odds of 6 /1, 6/7 (6-8) and 10-7. Right after this game, in a curious moment, he barely celebrated the victory and Bublik moved to the next court to train with Russian Daniil Medvedev.
“I think it was a beautiful game for us today. Definitely very tough, playing against two high level doubles players in the first round here in Rome. We had to stop because of the rain, winning 4-3 in the tiebreak, they ended up taking the second set. We had an advantage in the match-tiebreak, then we saved two match-points. Anyway, there are many more positive things to take away from this debut and we are going with everything now in the next round”, said Marcelo.
Very firm start to the match
Melo and Zverev were very firm with their serve throughout the first set, winning 82% of the points played. They lost just four points in their first four service games and only had a little more trouble in the 12th, when they faced 30-30, but didn’t even have a break-point against.
On the other side, Krajicek and Skupski also did well with their serve, but were threatened in the seventh game, when they needed to save two break-points to confirm. Without breaks, the decision went to the tiebreak, in which the Minas Gerais and the German had unexpected dominance, winning without losing a single point.
Reaction from rivals and victory in suffocation
In the second set, the North American and the British reacted, opening 5/3, but were broken in the tenth when serving to close, losing a set point. The decision then went to the tiebreak, which was stopped by rain when Melo and Zverev had a mini-break in front. On the way back, they lost serve twice and saw Krajicek and Skupski tie the game.
The decision came down to the match-tiebreak, which first had Melo and Zverev opening 7-5, only to later lose four points in a row. Krajicek and Skupski then opened 9-7, but they lost the two match-points they had and ended up stagnant on the scoreboard, with the German and the Minas Gerais winning four points in a row to take the victory.
