US Open finalists Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic came back from losing the first set to beat two-time Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-4) 10-7 after 2 hours and three minutes.
Koolhof and Mektic have extended their lead to 3-1 in their head-to-head matches against Krawietz and Mies.
In the opening set Koolhof and Mektic earned their first break of the match at 4-3, but Krawietz and Mies broke straight back. Koolhof made double faults to drop serve in the ninth game. Krawietz and Mies got two mini-breaks and hit an overhead winner to win the tie-break 7-3.
Both players traded breaks in the third and fourth games of the second set and held their serve en route to the second tie-break. Koolhof and Mektic hit return winners to get two mini-breaks opening up a 4-0 lead. Krawietz and Mies pulled back one mini-break for 2-4, but Koolhof and Mektic converted their first set point to draw level.
Koohlof rallied from a mini-break down in the Match Tie-Break at 5-7 down. Koolhof and Mektic won five consecutive points to seal the match, when Mies failed to control a backhand return.
“It was definitely a close one. I think entire the match we felt like we were a little bit the better team. We were a bit unfortunate in the first set. We kept saying to ourselves that we were good, we played good, and to just keep digging, in the end, it paid off”, said Mektic.
