Ram/Salisbury Save MP In Paris Opener

Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

After seeing a match point of their own go begging in the second set, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury had to fend off a match point to survive on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Facing the French duo of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in front of the Paris crowd, the top seeds won the final three points of the match to secure a 7-5, 6-7(4), 11-9 victory and advance to the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 event. After Ram/Salisbury claimed the first break of the match to seal the opening set, they had a chance to finish the match on a deciding point on return at 5-4 in the second but could not convert.

The American-British duo rescued the Match Tie-break from 6/8, winning five of its final six points to become the first team to reach the quarters.

Daniel Evans and John Peers also advanced via a Match Tie-break on Wednesday, reaching the second round with a 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 win against Maxime Cressy and Gonzalo Escobar. Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray joined them with a 6-2, 7-6(1) win against Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Quentin Halys, making it two Australian-British teams in the win column on the day. For Murray, the victory moves him to 499 career doubles wins.

Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin ensured there would be a victorious French team on Wednesday with a 6-4, 7-5 win against Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev.