Mahut/Roger-Vasselin win in Monte-Carlo

Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin held their nerve for an impressive opening victory on Tuesday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. 

The all-French duo downed fifth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Neal Skupski 6-3, 7-6(7) in a heavy-hitting first-round clash at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Monaco. Mahut and Roger-Vasselin saved all four break points they faced in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and also rescued the second-set tie-break when set point down at 6/7 before sealing their win.

The 2016 Monte-Carlo champion Mahut and his partner Roger-Vasselin will next take on home favourite Romain Arneodo and Austrian Sam Weissborn. The 2023 finalists booked their second-round spot in the Principality with a 7-6(0), 7-6(2) triumph against Ugo Humbert and Fabrice Martin. 

 Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori were also straight-sets winners on Tuesday. The Italians downed Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot 7-6(5), 6-2 to set a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with eighth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni. 

In the final match of the day, singles stars Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune continued their doubles run in Monte-Carlo by upsetting the in-form Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 4-6, 6-3, 12/10. Fritz and Rune saved a match point at 8/9 in the Match Tie-break before rallying to a 93-minute second-round triumph.