Doubles specialists Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya battled past Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki 4-6 7-5 10-3 after 1 hour and 23 minutes to reach the second round of the doubles tournament at the Miami Masters 1000 tournament.
Djokovic played the doubles tournament, as he needed matches after undergoing elbow surgery last January.
Mektic and Peya, who reached the final in Rio de Janiero and Sofia in 2018, went up a double break to build up a 4-1 lead in the first set but Djokovic and Troicki fought back by winning the next five games to clinch the first set 6-4.
The Serbian team wasted three consecutive break points in the 8th game of the second set before dropping their serve in the 11th game. Mektic and Peya served out for the set in the next game to set up a decisive match tie-break. Djokovic and Troicki won the first point of the tie-break, but Mektic and Peya reeled off the next four points.
Mektic and Peya won the final five points from 5-3 to set up a second round match against 2017 Australian Open champions and ATP Finals champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who beat Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop 6-3 3-6 10-6.
Six-time Miami champion Djokovic will start his Miami singles tournament against Frenchman Benoit Paire today. The Serbian star won 16 consecutive matches and 30 of the past 31 matches at this event. Djokovic won this tournament in 2014, 2015 and 2016 but he missed last year’s edition due to a right elbow injury. He lost to Taro Daniel in three sets in his come-back tournament in Indian Wells. Djokovic beat Paire in their only head-to-head match in Cincinnati 2015. Paire reached two back-to-back semifinals last January in Pune and Sydney but he lost in the first round in Indian Wells.
John Isner (winner at Indian Wells with Jack Sock) teamed up with Donald Young to beat Kyle Edmund and Nenad Zimonjic 6-4 7-6 (7-1).
German brothers Alexander and Misha Zverev beat Fernand Verdasco and Santiago Gonzales 6-4 6-3. Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov fought back from one set down to edge Fabrice Martin and Franko Skugor 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 15-13.
