CALVIA/MALLORCA, June 23, 2021
All eyes on doubles in Calvia, as singles World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and his Spanish partner Carlos Gomez-Herrera won their second consecutive match to reach the semi-finals at the inaugural Mallorca Championships.
The wild card entries battled past Marcel Granollers from Spain and Argentine Horacio Zeballos, the top seeds of the ATP 250 grass-court event, 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-8 on a sunny Wednesday afternoon at the Mallorca Country Club in Santa Ponca.
The show goes on 💪@DjokerNole & @xarlygomez come through another tight encounter, defeating Granollers & Zeballos 4-6 7-6 10-8!@MallorcaChamps pic.twitter.com/w3XohjS6rL
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 23, 2021
“We are having a lot of fun on the court,” Djokovic said during his post-match on-court interview. “This was a huge win for us, beating one of the best doubles players in the world after losing the first set. I thought we played well even though we lost the first set.
“Look, doubles on grass? Anything can happen really quickly. One or two shots can decide the winner, as was the case today. But Xarly played really well when it mattered most. This was his win for sure.”
In their second event as a team after Dubai 2014, Djokovic and Gomez-Herrera celebrated their first win against Tomislav Brkic from Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbian Nikola Cacic in the opening round.
The pair will next face third seeds Oliver Marach of Austria and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan, who defeated Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico 6-3, 6-4. For Doubles World No. 258 Gomez-Herrera, who captured one ATP Challenger doubles title in Portoroz, Slovenia, 2019 alongside Teymuraz Gabashvili, it will be his first ATP Tour semi-final.
“He reached the semis himself alone, because I didn’t put a ball in the court for two sets,” Gomez-Herrera said. “Luckily, thanks again for Novak being there, because for me it’s like a dream. I’m awake, but I’m dreaming. He’s by the court with me, and that means a lot to me.”
Carreno Busta, Bautista Agut advance to quarterfinals
In singles action, Pablo Carreno Busta opened his home campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Jiri Vesely from the Czech Republic. The World No. 13 from Spain withstood 9 aces and broke his opponent’s serve two times to advance after one hour and 37 minutes.
“This was my first match of the season on grass and I think it was a solid game,” Carreno-Busta said. “Except for one game, I was in control with my serve. For the first match on this surface you have to be happy. I have managed to do a lot of things well.”
The 29-year-old Gijon native will next play Australia’s Jordan Thompson, who ended the run of Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein, winning 6-4, 6-4 after one hour and 13 minutes.
Later in the evening, No. 3 seed Roberto Bautista Agut began his title bid with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Stefano Travaglia from Italy. The 33-year-old Spaniard saved both break points he faced and capitalized on two of his own six break-point opportunities to prevail after one hour and 26 minutes.
Up next for Bautista Agut will be US-American Sam Querrey, who received a walkover into the quarterfinals from last week’s Halle champion Ugo Humbert. The Frenchman withdrew from the match with admominal pain.
Cuartos de final #ATPMallorca
🇷🇺 Medvedev vs 🇳🇴 Ruud
🇪🇸 Carreño vs 🇦🇺 Thompson
🇪🇸 Bautista vs 🇺🇸 Querrey
🇪🇸 Feliciano López vs 🇫🇷 Mannarino— Mallorca Championships (@MallorcaChamps) June 23, 2021
