Top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos began the quest for their first title of the season on Sunday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where they overcame Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten 6-1, 7-6(3).
The Spanish-Argentine team were strong on serve, winning 85 per cent (29/34) of points on their first delivery and not facing a break point to advance after 78 minutes.
Granollers and Zeballos have reached tour-level finals in Indian Wells, Buenos Aires and Auckland this year but have yet to win a title. Seeking their sixth ATP Masters 1000 trophy together, they will next play Rafael Matos and Andres Molteni in the second round.
Granollers and Zeballos triumphed in Rome as a team in 2020, with their last title at Masters 1000 level coming in Shanghai last season.
Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen advanced, defeating Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 to reach the third round. The Belgians clinched their first Masters 1000 crown as a team in Monte-Carlo earlier this year.
Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic moved past Sebastian Baez and Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the third round. The seventh seeds are 21-6 on the season together, winning three titles.
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury and Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry also advanced. Ram and Salisbury defeated Jamie Murray and Michael Venus 7-5, 6-2, while singles stars Cerundolo and Etcheverry downed Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-7(6), 7-5, 10-7.
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