In one of the more thrilling doubles finals of the season, Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas emerged with the trophy at the Erste Bank Open 500 on Sunday.
The Indian-Uruguayan duo saved a pair of match points for a tight 7-6(7), 6-7(4), 11/9 victory over Marcelo Demoliner and Sam Querrey. The match, which lasted one hour and 45 minutes, saw Bopanna deny the first championship point at 9/7 with a volley winner, followed by a Querrey forehand unforced error as the second came and went.
"Absolutely brilliant," Bopanna exclaimed. "It’s one of the first years for me that I won a 250, 500 and a 1000. I’d made a final of a 250, 500 and a 1000 also but it’s really nice to play with Pablo. We started the year to see how it goes and we’ve had our moments up and down but coming to the last couple of weeks of the tournament, really good to finish strong."
Bopanna and Cuevas celebrate their second team title, adding to their victory at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters earlier this year. In 13th position in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, the duo will not be making the trip to The O2, but they take home 500 points and split €132,030 in prize money.
"We had a match point in the second set and then in the Match Tie-break it was up and down and finally we won the trophy," said Cuevas. "So happy for the tournament and for playing with Rohan and for my confidence."
Individually, the 37-year-old Bopanna won his third title of the year, adding an ATP World Tour 500-level crown to his Masters 1000 triumph in Monte-Carlo and 250-level trophy in Chennai (w/Nedunchezhiyan). It was the 17th title of his career. Cuevas, meanwhile clinched his ninth career doubles title and fourth of the year, also prevailing in Rio de Janeiro with Pablo Carreno Busta and in Kitzbuhel with Guillermo Duran.
"I’ve always enjoyed playing in Paris," Bopanna added, looking ahead to the Rolex Paris Masters, where they open against Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. "I’ve won Paris twice so I always look forward to going to the tournament and like Pablo said it’s the last week of the tour so we go out and fight it out and see how it goes."
Demoliner and Querrey enjoyed a strong team debut in reaching the final, highlighted by victories over Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in the first round and second seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in the second. Demoliner falls to 0-6 in finals on the ATP World Tour, while Querrey drops to 5-8.
