Top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic are out in the opening round of the US Open men’s doubles, following a 6-2, 7-5 upset to American wild cards Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow on Thursday. The Croatians, who qualified first for the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals in July, were beaten 6-2, 7-5 in 79 minutes.
Mektic/Pavic were on a red-hot run this season, having won their first Grand Slam doubles trophy together at Wimbledon, Olympic doubles gold in Tokyo and three ATP Masters 1000 titles in Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome. Their nine-title haul this season also includes trophies at the Murray River Open in Melbourne, Rotterdam and Eastbourne.
They were 56-7 for the season coming into the match for an 88.9 winning percentage, while Lammons had won just one career Grand Slam doubles match and Withrow's best result at a major came in 2019 when he reached the quarter-finals at the US Open with Jack Sock. The pair improved their record for the season to 5-10 and will next meet Ricardas Berankis and Benoit Paire, following the Lithuanian-French duo’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over Australians Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith.
Colombian fifth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah also went down. Unseeded Poles Hubert Hurkacz and Szymon Walkow surprised the 2019 US Open champions 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3 to set a second-round meeting with Australians Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell. Roland Garros champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut had few such difficulties in their first match.
The third seeds defeated American wild cards Eliot Spizzirri and Tyler Zink 6-4, 6-4 in 63 minutes. The Frenchmen dropped just one point on their first serves and only five on their second serves to set a second-round clash with Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner. Second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos won their opening match 6-3, 6-3 against all-Argentine pair Facundo Bagnis and Federico Delbonis on Thursday.
Mektic/Pavic were on a red-hot run this season, having won their first Grand Slam doubles trophy together at Wimbledon, Olympic doubles gold in Tokyo and three ATP Masters 1000 titles in Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome. Their nine-title haul this season also includes trophies at the Murray River Open in Melbourne, Rotterdam and Eastbourne.
They were 56-7 for the season coming into the match for an 88.9 winning percentage, while Lammons had won just one career Grand Slam doubles match and Withrow's best result at a major came in 2019 when he reached the quarter-finals at the US Open with Jack Sock. The pair improved their record for the season to 5-10 and will next meet Ricardas Berankis and Benoit Paire, following the Lithuanian-French duo’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over Australians Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith.
Colombian fifth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah also went down. Unseeded Poles Hubert Hurkacz and Szymon Walkow surprised the 2019 US Open champions 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3 to set a second-round meeting with Australians Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell. Roland Garros champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut had few such difficulties in their first match.
The third seeds defeated American wild cards Eliot Spizzirri and Tyler Zink 6-4, 6-4 in 63 minutes. The Frenchmen dropped just one point on their first serves and only five on their second serves to set a second-round clash with Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner. Second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos won their opening match 6-3, 6-3 against all-Argentine pair Facundo Bagnis and Federico Delbonis on Thursday.