Draper/Machac make quick start in Monte-Carlo

Jack Draper and Tomas Machac continued their partnership on Monday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where they captured a 6-3, 7-6(4) win against Sebastian Korda and Jordan Thompson.

Draper and Machac teamed in Indian Wells last month and battled hard in their opener in The Principality, saving two set points in the second set en route to an 81-minute win.

Draper is competing in the singles draw this week at a career-high No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings. The British-Czech duo plays fifth seeds Marcelo Granollers and Horacio Zeballos or Romain Arneodo and Manuel Guinard in the second round.

Singles stars Alex de Minaur and Jan-Lennard Struff teamed to earn an opening-round doubles win, beating Yuki Bhambri and Alexei Popyrin 5-7, 7-5, 10-5.

De Minaur and Struff won 87 per cent of their first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats to advance after one hour and 35 minutes in their first match together. The Australian-German team will next meet Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

The eighth seeds overcame Sander Gille and Jan Zielinski 7-6(5), 6-1 to reach the second round. Gille lifted the trophy in Monte-Carlo 12 months ago with Joran Vliegen.