Bopanna-Middelkoop defeat Cachin-Schwartzman in Erste Bank Open opener

Rohan Bopanna. Pic/AFP

Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop made a stunning start to their Erste Bank Open campaign on Wednesday, defeating Argentine duo Pedro Cachin and Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-3.

In the process, the Indian-Dutch duo kept alive its outside chance of reaching November's ATP Finals.

Bopanna and Middelkoop are currently ranked 15th in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, and potentially need deep runs this week in Vienna and next week at the Paris Masters to have a possibility of qualifying for November's season finale in Turin.

Their second-round opponents in the Erste Bank Open will be Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, who overpowered second seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 7-6(6), 7-5.

Also read: Vienna Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas beats Novak, to face Coric in second round

Daniel Evans and John Peers also charged into the second round in Austria by upsetting top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury at the ATP 500 event.

Montreal finalists Evans and Peers transformed four of seven break points en route to a dominant 59-minute win against Ram and Salisbury, the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the ATP Doubles Rankings, respectively.

On the other hand, the top-seeded Daniil Medvedev cruised into the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Nikoloz Basilashvili, breaking early and late in both sets. With this win, Medvedev set up a Thursday showdown with home favourite Dominic Thiem in Vienna.

Later, Denis Shapovalov also advanced in Vienna with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory against Taylor Fritz. The defeat deals a blow to the American's ATP Finals hopes, as he stays on the outside looking as the eighth-placed man in the ATP Live Race To Turin.

Shapovalov will face Daniel Evans in the second round of the ongoing Erste Bank Open.

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