Portuguese tennis player Francisco Cabral, partnered with Austrian Lucas Miedler, defeated compatriot and former doubles partner Nuno Borges in the opening round of the Paris Masters 1000 doubles tournament on Wednesday.
The emotional match pitted friends against each other who had previously won the 2022 Estoril Open and several Challenger circuit titles together. Cabral, currently ranked 23rd in doubles, and Miedler secured the win against Borges, ranked 90th, and Czech Tomas Machac.
The winning pair claimed the victory in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (10), after one hour and 18 minutes of play.
The hug at the end! 🫂
Francisco Cabral and Nuno Borges met in the 1st round of doubles at the @RolexPMasters, and victory went to the former. Cabral and Miedler (6-3, 7-6[10]) advance to face Granollers and Zeballos in Paris. pic.twitter.com/fQjD38z7n1
— Bola Amarela (@Bola_Amarela) November 1, 2023
Borges had already exited the singles competition in Paris after a loss to American Liernar Tien. His partner, Machac, is ranked 117th in doubles.
Cabral and Miedler, ranked 35th as a team, will now face fourth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Ceballos of Argentina. Granollers is the world’s sixth-ranked doubles player, with Ceballos at fifth.
Granollers and Ceballos received a first-round bye. The Argentine-Spanish duo previously defeated Cabral and Miedler in the first round of Roland Garros, a tournament they eventually won.
Cabral and Miedler recently reached the final of the Vienna tournament on Sunday.