The unseeded team of James Duckworth and Chris Guccione scored a 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 upset of third-seeded Poles Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski on Wednesday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The Aussies converted on their lone break point to complete the upset in 70 minutes.

In the final four, they will face Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori, who booked their spot in the Brisbane semi-finals by knocking out last year’s US Open champions and top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 in 70 minutes.

In the bottom half of the draw, second seeds John Peers and Henri Kontinen were 7-6(2), 6-3 victors over Ivan Dodig and Sam Groth. They will now meet fourth seeds Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt or wild cards Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith.

Inglot and Lindstedt were 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-7 winners over Americans Scott Lipsky and Eric Butorac, while Reid and Smith defeated Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 7-6(1), 6-4.

Rojer/Tecau Dominate In Doha

Top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau needed just 43 minutes to overcome Teymuraz Gabashvili and Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-1 in the Doha quarter-finals.

The reigning Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champions did not face a break point and broke their opponents five times en route to setting a semi-final match-up against fourth seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya, who downed David Marrero and Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4.

Wild Cards Win In Chennai

The Indian partnership formed by N. Sriram Balaji and Ramkumar Ramanathan delighted the home crowd by defeating fourth seeds Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak 2-6,7-6(5), 10-5 in the first round. The wild cards only won 63 points to their opponents’ 72, but secured the win in 86 minutes after a Match Tie-break.

Third seeds Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin survived Aljaz Bedene and Treat Huey 4-6, 6-4, 10-5. Bedene and Huey took the early lead and saved six of eight break points faced, but succumbed after 79 minutes.

The youngest player in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings just keeps getting better. On Wednesday at Pat Rafter Arena, 22-year-old Austrian Dominic Thiem rolled into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International with a speedy 6-3, 6-2 win over Denis Kudla.

Thiem made his Brisbane debut a day earlier, defeating James Duckworth 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The first service break came 19 minutes into the match, Thiem surging ahead 4-2 as the 23-year-old Kudla failed to close out a 40-0 game. He would win 20 of 26 service points in taking the opening set.

Thiem again found an opening with the 69^th-ranked American serving at 2-all, 30-40 in the second set, and didn’t waste the opportunity. He added another break with Kudla serving at 2-4, and subsequently served out the match in an efficient 56 minutes.

It was a banner service day for Thiem, who never faced a break point. In addition, he totaled seven aces, and won 28 of 33 (84%) of his first-serve points.

It was their first career FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Last year, Thiem became the first Austrian to finish in the Top 20 (No. 20) since Jurgen Melzer in 2010, capturing the first three ATP World Tour titles of career— all on clay (Nice, Umag and Gstaad).

On the doubles court, the wild card pairing of Aussies Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith defeated Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 7-6(1), 6-4.

Leander Paes, a returning finalist at the Aircel Chennai Open (with Raven Klaasen), teamed up with Marcel Granollers to defeat Taro Daniel and John Millman 6-2, 6-3 in first-round action Tuesday.

Paes, 42, is a six-time Chennai champion and made his tournament debut in 1996 alongside Mahesh Bhupathi. He previously played with Granollers last June at Nottingham, where they reached the quarter-finals. Granollers was Paes’s 100th different partner on the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour.

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings, made a winning return to the court at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The top seeds defeated Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming 7-6(4), 6-3.

Rojer and Tecau, who finished the 2015 season by claiming the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals crown, could earn their 100th match win as a team by clinching the Doha title this week.   

The other seeded duos at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament also won their first-round matches Tuesday.

Second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, a new partnership for 2016, defeated Radu Albot and Martin Klizan 6-3, 6-3. Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, the No. 3 seeds, joined forces for a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middlekoop.

Meanwhile, fourth seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya dismissed Qatari wild cards Mousa Shana Zayed and Mubarak Shanna Zayid 6-1, 6-1. 

One year after reaching the Chennai Aircel Open final as a qualifier, Great Britain’s Aljaz Bedene began his 2016 campaign on Tuesday by knocking out No. 7 seed Vasek Pospisil. He edged the Canadian 7-5, 7-6(6) in one hour and 46 minutes.

Bedene, currently No. 45 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will next face Italian Luca Vanni for a place in the quarter-finals at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament. The 30-year-old Vanni beat German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-6(5).

Fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez made his way safely into the second round as he came back to defeat Japan’s Taro Daniel 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in two hours and 20 minutes. Garcia-Lopez will go for his 250th tour-level win when he next plays Croatian qualifier Ante Pavic.

Sixth seed Gilles Muller fired 19 aces past 19-year-old wild card Karen Khachanov 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-2 in two hours and 16 minutes.

Another wild card, 18-year-old Andrey Rublev, overcame qualifier and 2009 runner-up Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Devvarman, 30, has qualified for the Chennai main draw for seven of the past eight years. Rublev goes on to face top seed and three-time champion Stan Wawrinka in the second round.

Earlier in the day, Austin Krajicek saved all three break points he faced to defeat fellow American Rajeev Ram 6-7(0), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes.

Rafael Nadal fought back for a victory in his first singles match of the 2016 ATP World Tour season.

Avoiding the fate of 2015 champion, David Ferrer, who bowed out earlier Tuesday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Nadal prevailed against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in two hours. The second seed capitalised on five of his nine break point chances for his 20th match win at this ATP World Tour 250 event.

“I had chances in the beginning of the match [and] I couldn’t convert,” said Nadal. “I think I changed a little bit at the beginning of the second [set]… I’m very happy [with] the way that I managed to change the dynamic of the match, and I think I finished the match playing well.”

The World No. 5 is looking to claim his first hard-court title since his triumph two years ago in Doha (d. Monfils). He next faces Dutchman Robin Haase.

Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis also came from behind in his first-round match to oust sixth seed Andreas Seppi 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and eight minutes. He created 19 break point chances and converted seven times.

Borna Coric has been named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 sports list for 2016. The fifth annual list also includes golfer Jordan Spieth.

The 19-year-old Croatian was the youngest player in the 2015 year-end Top 50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Achieving a career-high of No. 33 in July 2015, Coric reached two ATP World Tour semi-finals last year at Dubai and Nice, plus three quarter-final runs. He was named ATP Star of Tomorrow Presented by Emirates in November 2014.

Forbes Magazine also looked back on its All-Star Alumni, listing World No. 1 Novak Djokovic – who was recognised in 2012 – for his achievements last year. The Serbian has finished year-end No. 1 in four of the past five years. In 2015, he won a career-high 11 titles, including three Grand Slams and a fifth Barclays ATP World Tour Finals crown.

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