Top seeds Bopanna/Ebden survive opening Miami test

No breaks of serve, no problem for Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden on Sunday at the Miami Open presented by Itau. Despite missing out on all five of their break points, the top seeds edged past Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-4 in the opening round at the ATP Masters 1000.

Bopanna/Ebden hit eight aces and won 89 per cent (39/44) of their first-serve points according to Infosys ATP Stats, but had to play most of the match from behind after losing serve at 3-3 in the opening set. Undeterred, they did not face a break point in the second set and built early leads of 4/1 in the second-set tie-break and 8/1 in the ensuing Match Tie-break to advance.

The Indian/Australian duo will next meet Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski, who beat Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7-6(5), 7-6(2) on Sunday.

Fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos also advanced via a Match Tie-break, moving past Frenchmen Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 3-6, 6-3, 10-5. The Spanish/Argentine duo saved four of five break points against them in the victory.

U-S-A! 🇺🇸

Eubanks/Shelton grab a win over Mies/Haase, 7-5, 6-3. #MiamiOpen | @atptour pic.twitter.com/AQyCLp6LWJ

— Miami Open (@MiamiOpen) March 24, 2024

Americans Christopher Eubanks and Ben Shelton also progressed to the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 result against Robin Haase and Andreas Mies, aided by six aces.

On Sunday evening, Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow fought off a match point to beat sixth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni. In a 4-6, 7-6(8), 10-4 victory, the Americans saved the match point at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break. They won the final three points of that tie-break, then claimed the first three of the Match Tie-break and never looked back.