Rio Open: Juan Sebastian Cabal-Marcelo Melo cruise into doubles semifinals

Rio de Janeiro [Brazil], February 24 (ANI): Juan Sebastian Cabal and Marcelo Melo dominated the Argentine team of Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Diego Schwartzman to advance to the next round of the ongoing Rio Open.
The second seeds earned a 6-1, 6-2 win in the all-South American quarter-final, not allowing a breakpoint in the match. Home favourite Melo is the lone Brazilian remaining in the singles or doubles draw at the ATP 500.
After defeating Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 7-5, 6-4, the Colombian-Brazilian combo will face Frenchmen Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in the semi-finals.
Fourth seeds Francisco Cabral and Horacio Zeballos also progressed to the final four, defeating Gonzalo Escobar and Tomislav Brkic 6-4, 7-6(4).
Following their victories on Thursday, three Frenchmen have advanced to the semi-finals of the Open 13 Provence in Marseille.
Second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Fabrice Martin won 6-3, 6-4 against Jonathan Eysseric and Denys Molchanov, while top seeds Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Mexico Santiago Gonzalez won 6-2, 6-4 against Luca Sanchez and Petros Tsitsipas.
Mahut/Martin will face N.Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan after their 3-6, 7-6(4), 13-11 win against Dustin Brown and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. After leading 9/6 in the Match Tie-break, the Indian duo erased a match point at 10/11 before clinching victory on their fifth chance.
Gonazlez/Roger-Vasselin will meet Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn, who received a walkover in the quarters. (ANI)