Gonzalez & Molteni victorious in Barcelona

Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell

Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni won their second title of the season Sunday when they battled past Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 in the final of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

The Argentines arrived in Spain having lost four of their past five matches. But the veterans found their form to emerge victorious at the ATP 500 event.

Gonzalez and Molteni beat a who’s who of opponents en route to the trophy, eliminating Australian Open finalists Simone Bolelli/Andrea Vavassori, 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champions Wesley Koolhof/Nikola Mektic, this year’s Hong Kong champions Marcelo Arevalo/Mate Pavic and Nys/Zielinski, who triumphed in Acapulco this year.

Gonzalez and Molteni saved seven of the 10 break points they faced and won 44 per cent of their first-serve return points according to Infosys ATP Stats. They lifted the trophy after one hour and 55 minutes, adding to their Cordoba crown.

"It is a very nice thing to play in Barcelona, it is one of the best tournaments in the world that we always watched on TV and to win it twice in a row is great," Gonzalez said. "And to be able to dive into the pool is something extra."

The Argentines trailed 2/5 in the Match Tie-break, but rallied to take a 5-2 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Nys and Zielinski. Molteni earned his 200th tour-level doubles victory in the semi-finals.

"Since we were kids we played on clay and this tournament was very strong and we are very happy and we enjoyed the whole week and also with the support of the audience, even when we were down," Molteni said. "It is full of Argentinians as well who come to live here, they came to see us and the Spaniards have a lot of affinity with us too and that combination makes it a very nice tournament."

Doumbia/Reboul win Bucharest title

^{Photo Credit: Tiriac Open}
Sadio Doumbia (above right) and Fabien Reboul (above left) defeated Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten 6-3, 7-5 on Sunday to win the Tiriac Open in Bucharest.

The Frenchmen dropped just one set in the tournament to claim their second ATP Tour title of the season. They were also victorious in Montpellier and reached finals in Cordoba and Estoril.

Doumbia and Reboul are now in eighth place in the PIF ATP Doubles Teams Rankings as they try to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.

The Bucharest champions saved all three break points they faced in the final against Heliovaara and Patten, who had won 11 consecutive matches at all levels entering the final.

Bhambri/Olivetti spoil Struff's hopes of Munich double

^{Photo: Getty Images for BMW}
Jan-Lennard Struff began his Sunday at the BMW Open by winning the singles title, his first ATP Tour triumph. But Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti spoiled the home favourite's hopes of claiming doubles glory in Munich, too.

The Indian-French duo defeated German wild cards Andreas Mies and Struff 7-6(6), 7-6(6) to claim the ATP 250 crown.

Bhambri and Olivetti first teamed in Marrakech, where they reached the semi-finals. They went two steps further this week, battling through two Match Tie-breaks en route to the trophy. In the first round, they upset Monte-Carlo champions Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.

Saturday, 20 April
Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski advanced to their second tour-level final of the season on Saturday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where they beat Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-4.

Nys and Zielinski are chasing their second title of the season, having triumphed at the ATP 500 in Acapulco. They will face Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni or Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic in Sunday’s final.

Doumbia/Reboul advance in Bucharest
Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul continued their impressive season on Saturday when they reached their fourth tour-level doubles title of the year together at the Tiriac Open.

Doumbia and Reboul moved past Nicolas Barrientos and Rafael Matos 6-3, 6-2 in Bucharest. They will play Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten in the title match after the Finn-British pair beat Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-8.

Friday, 19 April

Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen led a pair of upsets Friday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where the Czech-Chinese team downed top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6(7), 4-6, 10-5 to reach the semi-finals.

In the ATP 500 main draw as qualifiers, Machac and Zhang are both Top 50 singles players in the PIF ATP Rankings. They enjoyed a semi-final run together at the Australian Open before lifting the Marseille trophy in February. Machac and Zhang will meet Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski in the semis.

Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic also scored an upset win, defeating second seeds Ivan Dodig and Neal Skupski 6-2, 7-6(4). The Salvadoran-Croatian duo will face Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the last four.

Top seeds also fall in Bucharest
Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop ousted top seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 to reach the Tiriac Open semi-finals.

Glasspool and Rojer were pulling double duty after rain forced them to play their opening round and quarter-final matches Friday.

The Dutch duo Arends and Middelkoop next play third seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, who defeated Francisco Cabral and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 7-6(6), 6-4.

Bhambri/Olivetti reach Munich final
Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti downed defending BMW Open champions Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-7 to reach their first final of the season as a team.

The Indian-French duo await Theo Arribage and Victor Cornea or home favourites Andres Mies and Jan-Lennard Struff.

Thursday, 18 April
Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni advanced to their second semi-final of the season Thursday when they ousted Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 7-6(1) at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. 

The 36-year-old Molteni is now one win shy of his 200th career doubles win. The Argentine partnered countryman Gonzalez in a standout 2023 season in which they won five team titles and qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals. The Cordoba champions await second seeds Ivan Dodig and Neal Skupski or Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic in the last four.

Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski also reached the ATP 500 semi-finals with a 6-3, 3-6, 10-3 victory against fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. They will next face top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos or Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen.

Defending champions stay alive in Munich
Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler, who won the BMW Open a year ago, upset second seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 5-7, 6-2, 10-4 to keep their title defence hopes alive. Up next for the Austrian duo is Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti, who beat Robert Galloway and Evan King 6-3, 6-3.

Rain cancels Bucharest play
Top seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer will have to wait to begin their title quest at the Tiriac Open, where rain cancelled all of Thursday's doubles action. Should the British-Dutch pair advance on Friday, they will return to court later in the day for their quarter-final match.