Defending men’s doubles champions Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock have taken the first step towards back-to-back titles after surviving a four-set tussle with Sam Groth and Sergiy Stakhovsky.
The reigning title-holders, who posted a hard-fought five-set victory against top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan to clinch the 2014 trophy, were tested in Monday's opening round but came away with a 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 6-1 win after more than two-and-a-half hours on court.
Broken in the opening set the defending champions fought back to claim the second in a tie-break, only to be pushed to a tie-break once again in the following set.
At 2-1 in the third set tie-break Sock landed an inside-out forehand to clinch the mini-break, which was to prove the decisive point of the match as Sock and Pospisil claimed the third set and eased through the fourth to book their place in the second round.
It’s one of the tougher first-round draws we could have had
“We didn’t start great, I think the energy was pretty low and we were missing some balls that maybe we don’t normally miss but it was also our first doubles match in a while,” Pospisil said.
“I think we started playing better as the match went on and we won some crucial breakers and just took the momentum into the fourth set and played a solid match overall after the first set.”
The Canadian was thankful to get away with a win in what was a tough opening round assignment for the defending champions.
“It’s one of the tougher first-round draws we could have had because these guys are serving big and serve-volleyers in singles, so it’s always tricky,” he said.
Since winning the Wimbledon title in 2014 Sock and Pospisil have remained a force on the men’s doubles circuit, collecting titles at Atlanta and Indian Wells and posting finals appearances at Cincinatti and Miami.
Meanwhile, No.9 seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea also advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-1 win over Tim Smyczek and Jiri Vesely.
Bopanna and Mergea arrived at SW19 on form, with wins at Madrid and Stuttgart and finals appearances in Casablanca and Halle banked on their 2015 highlights reel.
Rounding out the men’s doubles action for the day, Jonathan Erlich and Philipp Petzschner overcame Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to keep their title hopes alive.
Petzschner is no stranger to success in London, having won the men’s doubles title in 2010 alongside Jurgen Melzer.
