Two French doubles pairs restored local pride on Thursday to reach the last eight at the Paris Masters. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut beat Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar 7-6, 6-4 while Arthur Rinderknech and Benjamin Bonzi shocked the eighth seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in three sets.
Herbert and Mahut, who won the title in 2019, were switched to centre court for their last-16 match after their compatriot Gael Monfils was forced to pull out of his third round clash against the top seed Novak Djokovic with a leg injury.
Though they started nervously, they eventually settled into the set.
It went to a tiebreak and they clinched it on their second set point when Behar's return went wide.
Chance
Behar and Escobar engineered three consecutive break points on Herbert's service at 4-4.
But they squandered the openings. They paid the price in the following game.
"We were fortunate to come in and play on the centre court after Gael withdrew," said Mahut. "And to have it full of people encouraging us was wonderful."
