Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini survived a scare to reach the quarter-finals at the Nordea Open Wednesday, edging Ariel Behar and Tomislav Brkic 7-6(3), 2-6, 10-3 in Bastad.
The second seeds, who enjoyed a run to the final together at the ATP 250 event in 2018, raised their level in the Match Tie-break to ensure they started their title quest with victory, advancing after one hour and 43 minutes.
The Italians are aiming to capture their second tour-level crown of the season as a team this week, having lifted the trophy in Rio de Janeiro in February. They will next play Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa at the clay-court tournament.
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Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez continued their strong season, downing Filip Bergevi and Lukasz Kubot 7-5, 6-1 to advance to their ninth quarter-final of the year. The fourth seeds captured titles in Marrakech and Mallorca earlier this season.
Nikola Cacic and Aleksandr Nedovyesov became the first team to reach the semi-finals in Bastad, edging Marc-Andrea Huesler and Pavel Kotov 4-6, 6-2, 10-3 in 72 minutes. Cacic and Nedovyesov are joining forces for the first time this week and will next play either Bolelli and Fognini or Carreno Busta and Sousa.
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