Germany's Alexander Zverev and compatriot Tim Puetz beat India's Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov of Canada 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 to enter the doubles semi-finals at the Madrid Open here.
While the Bopanna-Shapovalov pair hit five aces compared to three from Puetz and Zverev, the Indo-Canadian duo erred more on double faults. They had five double faults as against two by the German pair.
The Germans were also better on first serve, with a win percentage of 83 as against 79 by their opponents.
Earlier in the tournament, on Wednesday, the unseeded Bopanna and Shapovalov had taken down top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in straight sets.
The Indian doubles veteran and the 22-year-old Canadian have been a regular partnership on the doubles tour since 2019. They paired up for the first time since Roland Garros in 2020 here in the Madrid Open, where they reached the quarter-finals.