By Erik Gudris | Friday, March 7, 2014
Roger Federer and Stanslas Wawrinka proved again that they are formidable doubles team as the Swiss stars paired up on Friday at the BNP Paribas Open.
Playing before a packed Stadium 2 crowd, they found themselves up against another talented pair in Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
After both teams split the first two sets, the contest went down to the wire in a thrilling match tiebreak before Federer and Wawrinka won 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-6.
Later, Federer, who has become quite handy on Twitter of late, posted these two "selfles" with him and Wawrinka, including one on the sly at their post-match press conference.
Federer is scheduled to open up his singles campaign Saturday versus France's Paul-Henri Mathieu. Wawrinka, playing in his first tournament since winning the Australian Open, will take on Ivo Karlovic.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal will also get on the courts as he takes on Radek Stepanek. Andy Murray will be in action versus Lukas Rosol.
Gonzalez, Thiem Get First Time Wins
Friday also proved a banner day for two ATP pros on the singles court who each claimed first time wins.
Rising young Austrian talent Dominic Thiem earned his first ever win at an ATP 1000 event by defeating fellow qualifier Daniel Kosakowski 6-2, 7-5.
Thiem will next face No. 21 seed Gilles Simon.
Alejandro Gonzalez saved four match points before pulling off a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(6) win over France's Adrian Mannarino. Though Gonzalez won three challenger titles last year, this was his first ever ATP main draw win.
(Photo Credit: AP)