Arthur Fils/Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard clinch opening win in Paris | ATP Tour

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Home favorites Fils/Mpetshi Perricard clinch the opening win in Paris

Skupski/Venus set to clash with top seeds Granollers/Zeballos

October 30, 2024

Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard transferred some of their recent singles form to the doubles court on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The wildcard duo defeated Jamie Murray and John Peers 7-5, 7-6(6) in a tight first-round battle at the ATP Masters 1000 indoor event. The Fils, who have won 10 of their last 12 matches, and the Basel champion Last week’s coach Perricard hit 11 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to victory in their first ATP Tour match.

The 79-minute win was Fils’ second victory of the day in Paris, where he previously had one win over Jan-Lennard Struff. Coach Perricard won on singles from Karen Khachanov, but she picked herself up for the second tour-level match win of her career. Waiting for Fils and Master Perricard in the second round will be the sixth Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.

Also on Wednesday, Neal Skupski and Michael Venus bounced back from a disappointing Vienna championship match loss with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Jean-Julien Rojer and Joe Salisbury. Their next assignment in Paris is to meet the two runners-up in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin also qualified for the first round in the French capital. The Mexican-French duo defeated the Argentines Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-2, 5-7, 10-5. Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin now lead both teams in the Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-0.