Mahut/Herbert Up And Running In Rotterdam

Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert began their bid for a second ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament title as a team on Wednesday, beating Benoit Paire and Mate Pavic 6-3, 6-4.

The 2018 champions dropped just four points on serve (40/44) to move through to the quarter-finals after 50 minutes. Mahut and Herbert improve to 7-1 at the opening ATP 500 event of the year, having also reached the semi-finals on their tournament debut as a team in 2017.

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Mahut, a three-time champion in Rotterdam, and Herbert will meet Fabio Fognini and Robin Haase as they bid to reach their third semi-final in as many team appearances in Rotterdam. Fognini and Haase edged past Rolex Paris Masters finalists Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 7-6(1), 7-6(11) on Monday.

In the final first-round match, Raven Klaasen and Oliver Marach beat Dutch wild cards Sander Arends and David Pel 6-3, 7-5 in 67 minutes. Klaasen and Marach will face Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz for a spot in the semi-finals. Auger-Aliassime and Hurkacz overcame third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 7-6(9) on Monday.