McDonald/Shelton Take Down Cabal/Farah In Acapulco

Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton sprung an opening-round upset on Wednesday at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, where the American pairing took out fourth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6(5), 6-4 at the hard-court ATP 500.

McDonald and Shelton converted four of eight break points in Acapulco to notch their maiden ATP Tour win together at the second attempt. They held firm to win a first-set tie-break in which they were never behind before rallying from 2-4 in the second set to clinch an 89-minute victory.

Having played together for the first time at Tour-level in Delray Beach two weeks ago, McDonald and Shelton will now face Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan in their maiden ATP Tour quarter-final as a team.

In other doubles action in Acapulco on Wednesday, William Blumberg and Casper Ruud downed Nicolas Mahut and Joe Salisbury 6-4, 6-4, while Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow defeated Marseille champions Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 7-6(3).

Mektic/Pavic Move On In Dubai
At the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic booked a semi-final spot for the third consecutive year with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 win against Tomislav Brkic and Gonzalo Escobar.

The 2021 and 2022 finalists Mektic and Pavic held their nerve in a Match Tie-break to complete an 87-minute triumph at the hard-court ATP 500. Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen also advanced to the final four on Wednesday with a 7-6(4), 7-6(3) victory against Ilya Ivashka and Andrey Rublev.

Gonzalez/Molteni Make Fast Start In Santiago
Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni wasted little time kick-starting their Movistar Chile Open campaign on Wednesday, when they raced past Juan Manuel Cerundolo and Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-1, 6-1 in just 52 minutes.

The top-seeded Argentine duo will next play home wild card pairing Tomas Barrios Vera and Alejandro Tabilo at the clay-court ATP 250, where Gonzalez lifted the trophy in 2020 alongside Simone Bolelli.

There was one upset on Wednesday in the Chilean capital, however — Indian duo N.Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan held their nerve in a Match Tie-break to down second seeds Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 7-5, 4-6, 11-9.