Portuguese tennis player Francisco Cabral and Brazil’s Rafael Matos qualified for the third round of doubles at Roland Garros on Friday, beating Australian Max Purcell and North American Ben Shelton in straight sets.
The Portuguese-Brazilian duo triumphed over Purcell, Wimbledon title champion and 53rd world doubles player, and Shelton, who is a promise in singles at the age of 20, with the Partials of 6-3 and 6-0, in just one hour and 10 minutes .
It is the first time that the top national specialist in the variant and 57th in the world ranking has reached the third round of a Grand Slam, after falling in the second round of Wimbledon and the US Open with his friend Nuno Borges last year.
Cabral and Matos, Brazil’s number one and 39th in that hierarchy, began their partnership in mid-May after the Portuguese played alongside eight other players, including Purcell, this season.
In the third round, the pair will face the fourth seed of the Paris major pairings, North American Austin Krajicek (5th in doubles) and Croatian Ivan Dodig (8th).
Source: DN
