Joran Vliegen and Sander Gillé. — © BELGA
Sander Gillé and Joran Vliegen have qualified for the semi-finals of the doubles at the Masters 1,000 tournament in Monte Carlo. The Limburgers won in two sets against the Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz (the sixth seed). The score was 7-5 and 6-4 after 1 hour and 25 minutes.
“We played a very good match,” Vliegen said afterwards. “We were very focused and executed our tactics well. We made good use of the conditions, especially the lob when the sun was in their eyes. At the important moments we had everything under control and we were able to, for example, eliminate set points or force a decisive break in the second set.”
The 33-year-old Gillé and the 30-year-old Vliegen are the only Belgians on the main table in Monte Carlo. In their two previous participations, in 2021 and 2022, they were eliminated in the first round. To advance to the final, the Belgian Davis Cup duo must get past the Spaniard Marcel Granollers and the Argentinian Horacio Zeballos (the third seed).
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“We can be really pleased with the way we adapted to the clay after our semi-final in Estoril,” Vliegen continues. “The game we presented there was not good. Here for the first time we defeated two duos who had always dominated us until now. That means we’ve done our homework and we can beat the best. That gives confidence. Granollers and Zeballos form a well-oiled couple. It will be a tough match, but we have the feeling that anything is possible.”