Monegasque star Arneodo & Frenchman Guinard reach Monte-Carlo SFs

Monegasque star Romain Arneodo and Frenchman Manuel Guinard continued their impressive run at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Friday, when they overcame Rohan Bopanna and Ben Shelton to reach the semi-finals.

In a tense clash, Arneodo and Guinard earned a hard-fought 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 win, much to the delight of the crowd in attendance at the ATP Masters 1000 clay-court event.

Two years ago, home hope Arneodo came within touching distance of the doubles title when he teamed with Austrian Tristan-Samuel Weissborn. However, he fell one match short, losing in the final to Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.

Aiming to go one step further this year, the 32-year-old and Guinard will next meet Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten after the second seeds beat Rafael Matos and Joran Vliegen 6-1, 3-6, 10-5. Heliovaara and Patten are chasing their second title of the season together, having triumphed at the Australian Open.

Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool maintained their good form with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz. Cash and Glasspool reached the final in Miami last month. The Brits will face Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic after the top seeds defeated 6-3, 3-6, 10-2 Alex de Minaur and Jan-Lennard Struff. Arevalo and Pavic beat Cash and Glasspool in the Miami title match two weeks ago.