Kubot/Marach Prevail In Vienna; Past Lyon Champ Santoro Bows Out

© Stephane Pillaud / SportissimoBenjamin Becker and Fabrice Santoro face tough opposition Monday in Lyon.

Third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach held off the first-time pairing of Marco Chiudinelli and Peter Luczak 6-2, 5-7, 10-8 to reach the quarter-finals Monday at the Bank Austria TennisTrophy, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament contested in Vienna.

Kubot and Marach are attempting to clinch one of four remaining doubles berths in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, and are currently No. 6 in the 2009 ATP Doubles Team Rankings. The Polish-Austrian duo won the clay-court titles at Casablanca and Belgrade, and were also finalists at the ATP World Tour 500 event in Acapulco. They got the season off to a strong start as they teamed up to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.

They next face the German-Austrian tandem of Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Peya, whom edged past Carsten Ball and Travis Rettenmaier 7-6(4), 7-6(10).

In other first-round matches Monday, Germans Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber comfortably dismissed wild cards Jan Hajek and Daniel Koellerer 6-2, 6-4, while Italians Andreas Seppi and Simone Vagnozzi defeated Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 7-6(5).

At the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa ousted Benjamin Becker and Fabrice Santoro 6-2, 6-3 in their first-round match. Becker and Santoro were playing together for the first time.

Santoro, a two-time Lyon doubles champion, is making his 12th and final appearance in Lyon this week. The 36 year old made his tournament debut in 1990, teaming up with Yannick Noah to reach the semi-finals, and won the doubles title in 1998 (w/Delaitre) and 2005 (w/Llodra).

In first-round action at the St. Petersburg Open, Russians Michail Elgin and Teimuraz Gabashvili upset No. 4 seeds Scott Lipsky and Rogier Wassen 6-3, 6-4 as they converted four of their 10 break point chances during the 65-minute match. They next go on to face James Cerretani and David Skoch, 7-6(5), 6-3 winners over Evgeny Korolev and Frank Moser.

Meanwhile, Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Richard Gasquet made a winning partnership debut as they accounted for Slovakians Karol Beck and Filip Polasek 6-2, 7-6(4).