The pair formed by the Spanish Pablo Andújar and Pedro Martínez lost this Thursday the semifinal of the men's doubles at Roland Garros against the Kazakh couple Alexander Bublik and Andrey Goluvev in three sets, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The first set was easy for the Spaniards, who used Andújar's solid first serve and Martinez's long volley to give up just one game and close the set in 27 minutes with a 6-1 score. In the second, however, the Kazakhs fought better and steadily managed to bring the set to 4-4, break the Spanish serve and close it at 6-4 with a blank game.
In the final set, both couples retained their service at the beginning, but it was much more difficult for Cuenca and Valencia to retain it than for the Kazakhs, who ended up achieving a break to become 4-3 and maintain inertia until closing the match with another 6 -4. With these semifinals, the Spanish, who entered as alternatives due to the loss of the Croats Mektic and Pavic (who contracted COVID) reach their best performance in Roland Garros doubles. Andújar's best mark was the second round in 2011 and 2015 and for Martínez the first, in which he stayed last year.
The Kazakhs, meanwhile, will play the final on Saturday against the winner of the other semi-final between the French Pierre-Huges Herbert and Nicolas Mahut and the Colombians Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah.
Results and table.