(Madrid) Ontarian Denis Shapovalov and his Kazakh playing partner Alexander Bublik suffered a clear defeat of 6-3, 6-2 against Briton Jamie Murray and Australian Michael Venus in the first round of the men’s doubles tournament, Tuesday at the Madrid Tennis Open.
Murray, Andy Murray’s brother, and Venus, are the 11are top seeds in the tournament, and they ousted Shapovalov and Bublik after just 51 minutes of play on court No. 5.
Shapovalov lost to German Alexander Zverev (No. 4) 6-4, 7-5 in the third round of the Madrid singles tournament on Sunday.
In the next round, Murray and Venus will face Jordanian Abdullah Shelbayh and German Benjamin Hassan. The latter surprised the fourth seeds, the Croatian Ivan Dodig and the American Austin Krajicek, 6-2, 7-6 (6) in the curtain raiser of the doubles tournament.
A little later today, Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime will meet Norwegian Casper Ruud (No. 5) in the round of 16. Ruud is 3-1 in his career against Auger-Aliassime, on 35e world player.