JonH comes home wrote:

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Looking at the 5 weeks forecast rankings, Lloyd looks like he could jump over a number of players and make it to 7th or so, and quite possibly higher. Looking well positioned

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 this was the kiss of death then, sorry Lloyd and Harri!

QF:  Karen Khachanov & Andrey Rublev (***/***) CR 343 (189+154) vs Jamie Murray & Michael Venus (NZL) CR 48 (34+14)

The Russkies beat Mektic & Pavic (5) in three sets...

Stircrazy wrote:

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QF:  Karen Khachanov & Andrey Rublev (***/***) CR 343 (189+154) vs Jamie Murray & Michael Venus (NZL) CR 48 (34+14)

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QF:  (1) Wesley Koolhof (NED) & Neal Skupski CR 2 (1+1) vs (7) Rohan Bopanna & Matthew Ebden (IND/AUS) CR 35 (13+22)

QF:  (7) Rohan Bopanna & Matthew Ebden (IND/AUS) CR 35 (13+22) defeated (1) Wesley Koolhof (NED) & Neal Skupski CR 2 (1+1) by 3 & 2 

Go on, Jamie. Re being on clay, doubles is never so surface relevant as singles but still hope it keeps working for him.

oh, heck.

It feels like this year so far has been one in general where the Brits havent quite lived up to our hopes in doubles, but other established pairs have also struggled. The winners of the 3 Masters Series and the AO so far have been:

AO- Hijikata and Kubler
IW - Bopanna and Ebden (new pairing really but two very established pros!)
Miami - Gonzalez and Roger-Vasellin (see above)
Monte Carlo - Dodig and Krajicek (see above)

It feels like the well established pairs, and I put Joe and Rajeev and maybe Neal and Wes in that category are struggling to stay on the top this season and the prospective top 8 pairs for ATP TOur Finals reflects that.

For now, Neal and Lloyd are both in the top 8, and Jamie is 11th. I still think Jamie is making progress with Venus and fancy him and Venus going deep in one of the slams coming up, but generally it feels like it is hard to predict at all in the mens doubles and a veritable crap shoot. Jaggy will be pleased to suggest he told us so!!