The French found their fire on Wednesday with top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut joining unseeded compatriots Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the Gentlemen’s Doubles semi-finals.
There was an added bonus to Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin’s upset of No.3 seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. The mammoth 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(11), 6-7(1), 10-8 result kept alive the possibility of an all-French final and ensured their countryman Mahut would return to top spot in the world rankings on Monday.
Murray and Soares were looking to add a second Grand Slam title to their swag after claiming this year’s Australian Open and after saving three match points in the third set, the British-Brazilian pairing looked to have swung momentum their way when they snuck the fourth set in another tie-break.
Despite salvaging the break back for 4-4 in the decider, Murray and Soares would ultimately fall short after four and a half hours.
Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin, the 2014 French Open champions, had taken down 2014 Wimbledon champions Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the previous round and will meet No.11 seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram for a place in the final after the South African-American duo upset three-time champions Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6(2), 6-1, 7-6(4) earlier in the day.
Klaasen and Ram continued their recent dominance of the No.2 seeds, having also defeated them en route to the Halle title leading in and in the Australian Open semi-finals in January.
Herbert and Mahut, last year’s US Open champions, saw off No.10 seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(8). Peers was looking to reach his second straight Wimbledon doubles final after he and Jamie Murray fell to Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau at the last hurdle in 2015.
No.12 seeds Max Mirnyi and Treat Huey will take on Herbert and Mahut for a place in the final after a comfortable win against British-Canadian duo Jonathan Marray and Adil Shamasdin 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3.
Mirnyi, a six-time Grand Slam doubles champion will be searching for a first Wimbledon doubles title and is through to his first semi-final at the All England club in 11 years, while Huey is aiming to reach his first Grand Slam final.
