Romanian tennis players Horia Tecau and Florin Mergea, in different pairings, qualified in Melbourne on Wednesday for the second round of the Australian Open men’s doubles, the first Gland Slam tournament of the year.
Tecau and Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer, 9th seeded, defeated 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) the couple Philipp Petzschner (Germany)/ Mikhail Youzhny (Russia), in one hour and 41 minutes.
The next adversaries of the Romanian-Dutch pairing will be the winners between Dutch Wesley Koolhof/Matwe Middelkoop and South-Americans Julio Peralta (Chile)/Horacio Zeballos (Argentina).
Last year, Tecau and Rojer reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne.
Mergea and Brit Dominic Inglot won by 6-2, 7-5 to Australians Luke Saville/Jordan Thompson, after one hour and 19 minutes.
In the 2016 edition, Mergea and his then partner, Indian Rohan Bopanna, stopped in the round of 16.
Mergea and Inglot will play in the second round against the winners of the match opposing French Julien Benneteau/Jeremy Chardy and couple Mariusz Fyrstenberg (Polanda)/Martin Klizan (Slovakia). More…