Doubles Take: Marathons and routs on Manic Monday

It was a wild day for some of the Wimbledon contenders. Doubles Take looks back and previews some of Tuesday's headliners.

Facing down match points is a little easier when you’ve won a Grand Slam or two—or 20.

On a truly Manic Monday at Wimbledon, seventh seeds Mike Bryan and Jack Sock saved two match points against the German duo of Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies to advance to the quarterfinals. They’ll play another unseeded team in the next round when they face Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak, who pulled off an escape act of their own by beating Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski in five sets.

Not to be outdone on the comeback front, Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands kept their career Slam hopes alive as they fought off two match points against the second seeds, Andrea Hlavackova and Barbora Strycova.

On the mixed doubles court, Victoria Azarenka and Jamie Murray came back from a 5-1 deficit in the third set to outlast Anna-Lena Gronefeld and Robert Farah, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (6), 7-5.

Some teams had an easier go of it out there, like 2018 Grand Slam champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, and Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, who all won in straight sets.

Here are a few of the matches to keep an eye on Tuesday.

1

Mate Pavic/Gabriela Dabrowski (1) vs. Jay Clarke/Harriet Dart

It’s been quite a tournament for Clarke, with experiences that should help develop his resilience. The 19-year-old Brit fell in five sets to the veteran Ernests Gulbis in the first round of singles, then dropped a marathon men’s doubles opener 22-20 in the fifth set. He and Dart knocked off a couple of veteran pairings to reach the second week of the tournament, but now they face a team that’s already won a major this season in Pavic and Dabrowski. Regardless of the outcome, this run will be one to remember for Clarke and Dart.

2

Ben McLachlan/Jan-Lennard Struff (14) vs. Frederik Nielsen/Joe Salisbury: One of the most unlikely quarterfinalists is someone who’s been at this stage—and further—before:

Back in 2012, Nielsen and Brit Jonny Marray (who’s actually competing at this year’s tournament in the Gentlemen’s Invitational event) shocked the tennis world with a run to the title as a wild-card pairing. The duo was unable to build upon that as Nielsen decided he wanted to focus on improving his singles ranking. That didn’t go as planned, but here he is now, hoping to replicate that magical run with another Brit. McLachlan and Struff are going for their second Grand Slam semi of the season, and are heavily favored here. Nielsen, though, knows perhaps better than anyone in the draw that miracles can happen.

3

Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus (13) vs. Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares (5)

Surprisingly, this is the only quarterfinal men’s match to feature two seeded teams. Two-time Slam champs Soares and Murray have each reached the final at Wimbledon with different partners, while Klaasen and Venus have a combined two major men’s doubles finals between them. Throw in the facts that Soares and Murray have beaten Venus and Klaasen in their only match this year and haven’t dropped a set at Wimbledon, and we could be looking at a first semi together for the Brazilian/Scot combo at the All England Club.

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