Bryans Open Shanghai Campaign; Zimonjic Claims 500th Win

© Getty ImagesBob and Mike Bryan have a 50-12 season record.

Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan opened their Shanghai Rolex Masters campaign on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Spanish-Serbian duo Marcel Granollers and Viktor Troicki. The Americans, who are now 50-12 on the season, broke serve three times from six opportunities and only dropped 10 points on serve in the 54-minute match.

The Bryans are bidding to win their first title since triumphing at Wimbledon in July. The 33-year-old twins achieved their best result at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament last year when they reached the semi-finals (l. to Melzer-Paes).

Serb Nenad Zimonjic earned his 500th doubles win when he and French partner Michael Llodra defeated Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 5-7, 6-3, 10-6. Llodra and Zimonjic have reached the final of four of their past five tournaments, winning three titles in Beijing, Toronto and Washington.

First-time pairing Nicolas Almagro and Bruno Soares upset Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, beating the seventh seeds 7-6(8), 6-4 in 76 minutes. Bopanna and Qureshi currently sit in seventh position in the Battle for London and are attempting to qualify for the season finale in London for the first time, but their second-round defeat in Shanghai follows on from a first-round exit in Tokyo last week.

Jurgen Melzer crashed out of both the singles and doubles on Wednesday in Shanghai. Following his loss to Santiago Giraldo in the singles second round, the Austrian and his German partner, Philipp Petzschner, were beaten by Thomaz Bellucci and Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-8. The US Open champions are already assured of their spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Brazil’s Bellucci and Dodig of Croatia go on to face fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, who defeated Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya 6-3, 6-4. The Indian Express are next in line to qualify for the year-end championships, currently fourth in the 2011 ATP Doubles Team Rankings. They are bidding for their fourth ATP World Tour title of the season.

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