It was Colombian cooking on Saturday at Roland Garros, as third seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah extended their win streak to seven straight.
The South American duo overcame Leander Paes and Benoit Paire 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 in one hour and 58 minutes, earning 24 break points and converting five. Cabal and Farah registered their best result in Paris in 2017, when they reached the last four.
Two weeks ago, the Colombians retained their title at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome and will look to earn an eighth consecutive match win on Sunday, facing 14th seeds Robin Haase and Frederik Nielsen. It will be the second match on Court 7.
Cabal and Farah are now the highest remaining seeds at Roland Garros, following Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin‘s 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 upset of top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo. The home hopes kicked off the tournament with victory over 15th seeds Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff, and they would reach the quarter-finals with Saturday’s comeback win over the 2017 Wimbledon champs.
Upset-minded 10th seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau also provided the fireworks, stopping two-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan to reach the quarter-finals. They prevailed 6-3, 7-6(7) in one hour and 28 minutes. Entering the day, the teams were locked at five wins apiece in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivarly. Rojer and Tecau most recently prevailed in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open last month, followed by the Bryans exacting revenge in Rome.
Meanwhile, German duo Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies extended their impressive run of form with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Nicolas Mahut and Jurgen Melzer. They have now won 10 sets in a row, following a flawless title run at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Heilbronn two weeks ago. The team lifted their first ATP Tour trophy at the New York Open in February.
In other action, French wild cards Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys continued their dream run on home soil, reaching the third round with a 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-3 win over Cheng-peng Hsieh and Christopher Rungkat. Mikhail Kukushkin and Joran Vliegen also extended their magical run with a 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 comeback win over Argentines Federico Delbonis and Guillermo Duran.
