Federico Delbonis and Jaume Munar cruised to victory in their first outing together in 2021 after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Joao Sousa and Pedro Sousa at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.
The Argentine-Spanish duo created more chances and converted three of their eight break opportunities to advance against Sousa and Sousa.
Delbonis and Munar have found themselves on opposite sides of the net more often than not, with the most recent of their five clashes (all levels) coming at Western & Southern Open in New York last year.
The Spaniard owns a 3-1 lead against Delbonis in their ATP Head2Head singles clashes. But in doubles, the pair hope to split the wealth as they await the winner of third seeds Marcelo Demoliner and Santiago Gonzalez and Delray Beach champions Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar.
Sinner Survives Scare In Marseille
Cabal/Farah Lead The Way In Doha
Also in action on Monday, top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah made quick work of wild cards Malek Jaziri and Mubarak Shannan Zayid at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
The Colombians combined for four aces and stayed rock-solid on serve, saving all four break points they faced en route to a 6-3, 6-2 victory in 59 minutes.
Cabal and Farah, who own two Grand Slams together after lifting the 2019 Wimbledon and US Open crowns, have been looking for their first title of any kind since then. The pair came close at their first event of the year, falling to Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares at the Great Ocean Road Open.
Marcus Daniell and Philipp Oswald claimed the upset of the day, defeating third seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek in a nail-biting 6-3, 6-7(2), 11-9 battle.
Second Seeds Survive In Marseille
British duo Luke Bambridge and Dominic Inglot weathered a tense battle against Frenchmen Benjamin Bonzi and Antoine Hoang in the opening round of the Open 13 Provence. Bonzi and Hoang saved three match points, but couldn’t hold off Bambridge and Inglot as the second seeds sealed the victory 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 10-8.
Elsewhere, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, three-time Marseille champion in singles, hit the doubles court alongside Albano Olivetti. The pair fell to the all-Dutch team of Sander Arends and David Pel 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Marc Lopez also advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over fourth seeds Divij Sharan and Igor Zelanay 6-4, 6-2.