The left-handers served first and last in each rotation in the first set of the first round doubles match in Basel when Michael Venus and Jamie Murray played Alexander Bublik and Adrian Mannarino, the shaven-headed Frenchman finishing the opening game of the match with an ace. Venus held comfortably as well, but Bublik got taken to deuce when his partner hit a forehand volley into the net. He held safely when Venus hit a big inside-out forehand return of the deciding point into the crowd. Murray ended up at deuce as well, and this time it was Mannarino who was forced into the return error on the deciding point. He did hold serve again next up, the highlight being his beautiful backhand lob to win the third point, and Venus followed by holding to love. Bublik hit a beautiful forehand down the tramlines to win his first point, with Venus keeping him honest through a beautiful backhand return through the left side of the court.
The highlight in Murray’s next game was a beautiful forehand lob from Bublik, but games continued to go with serve when Mannarino held for the third time. That, though, meant that Venus was serving to stay in the set, but he was unlucky with the Frenchman’s last two returns of serve. The first clipped the net cord and stayed in, whilst his backhand return on the game point drilled straight through between the New Zealander’s body and his racquet. Bublik got the deciding point back in play, but Murray gently pushed a forehand volley into the net to give away the set after 33 minutes.
The second set started with probably the best consecutive pair of points in the match, with Mannarino finishing the great rally on the first point with a fabulous backhand volley before losing the best rally of the match when he didn’t hit his forehand volley on the 16th shot hard enough to get it back to the net. Comfortable holds were the order of the day until Venus served for the second time, when Murray started the game by hitting volleys into the net to lose the first three points, and only the second was even close to being a forced error. Luckily their opponents were in a generous mood, because Bublik hit a backhand lob too far to end a short rally on the next point, and Mannarino blew an absolutely golden opportunity to break when he tapped a really poor backhand into the net.
Venus got them to deuce with an overhead volley, and Bublik’s return of the deciding point slammed into the end of the net. Mannarino ended up at deuce as well after he dumped a backhand and a forehand into the net, and this time Murray was the guilty of not getting the break when he overhit a forehand volley on the deciding point. Murray then became the third player in a row to end up at deuce, in his case after being up 40-0. Venus overhit a backhand volley to end a good rally on the next point, with Bublik then hitting a beautiful cross-court forehand return before Mannarino hit a fabulous inside-out forehand volley into the tramlines. He took the deciding point as well, but thumped his return of the second serve over the baseline.
Bublik and Venus dropped one point between them, but Mannarino followed Murray’s example by going from 40-0 to deuce. In his case it was due to a double fault being followed by a smash from Murray and a fabulous cross-court backhand return from Venus. Once again, though, the deciding point was safely defended, this time by an angled forehand volley from Bublik. Venus had managed to get out of jail earlier in the set when he came back from 0-40, and now Murray would have to do the same after his forehand into the net followed a beautiful forehand winner down the tramlines from Bublik and a lovely backhand return from Mannarino. Murray saved the first match point before Bublik lost the second, and I still can’t fathom how he pushed such an easy forehand wide. Mannarino dumped another backhand into the net to take the score to deuce, and the fourth match point was saved when Bublik did exactly the same.
The tie-break was effectively dead and buried when Mannarino lost both his points: the first to a double fault and the second when he pulled a forehand wide. He did get back one of the mini-breaks on the next point when he hit a beautiful backhand volley to win a good short rally, but the writing was on the wall when Bublik lost his third point to the shot of the match, an incredible backhand lobbed volley from Venus that would have gone down as a forced error if it had missed. The next serve from Venus squirted away off Mannarino’s racquet, and the set was over after 46 minutes.
The match tie-break started with four lost serves in a row, Bublik ending the great rally on the first point with an inside-out backhand winner, but Venus returned the compliment by hitting a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines. Mannarino dumped a backhand volley into the net to end the short rally on his partner’s second serve, but that mini-break was cancelled out when Venus lost Murray’s first point with a forehand volley into the net. Mannarino and Venus then won both their points before Murray got another mini-break with a fantastic intercepted forehand volley on Bublik’s first point. The next four serves were all held, but Mannarino lost his second point with yet another poor forehand into the net, and that gave Venus and Murray three match points.
One was enough, Mannarino’s return of the serve from Venus ending in the same place as his previous shot. The final score was 4-6, 7-6 (3), 10-6, and the match lasted for an hour and 33 minutes. In the quarter-finals Venus and Murray will play the Lucky Losers from the qualifying draw, Nikola Cacic and Victor Vlad Cornea.