Defending Roland Garros Champs Arevalo/Rojer Escape Tsitsipas Brothers
Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer held their nerve to survive an opening-round scare Tuesday at Roland Garros. The defending champions overcame Petros Tsitsipas and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(10-6) in an entertaining two-hour, 22-minute battle.
Arevalo and Rojer rallied from 0/4 in the Match Tie-break and won 10 of the final 12 points to advance to the second round in Paris, where they will next meet Nicolas Barrientos and Robert Galloway. The El Salvadoran-Dutch duo of Arevalo and Rojer are aiming for their third title of the season after triumphs at the Adelaide International 2 and the Delray Beach Open.
Top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski kicked off their Roland Garros campaign by ousting Gonzalo Escobar and Andrey Golubev 6-3, 7-6(5). Fifth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara also advanced after they downed Austrian duo Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3.
Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen scored a commanding upset when they defeated eighth seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 7-5, 6-3.