Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah reached their third tour-level final of 2018 on Saturday, defeating Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-8 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
The Mutua Madrid Open semi-finalists (l. Mektic/Peya) saved five of the seven break points they faced en route to their second victory over Murray and Soares in four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. Cabal and Farah will be attempting to win their first title since the 2017 BMW Open by FWU (d. Chardy/Martin) last May.
Cabal and Farah will face Pablo Carreno Busta/Joao Sousa in the final.
Murray and Soares made a dream start to the semi-final encounter, breaking to love to secure a 1-0 lead. But it was the Colombian duo who found success towards the latter end of the set. Cabal and Farah saved two set points from 30/40 down at 3-5, with Farah hitting a crosscourt forehand winner and a strong body serve to force Murray to serve for the set.
That recovery proved to be crucial. In the following game, a forced Soares backhand error at deciding point levelled the scores at 5-5 before Cabal and Farah snatched the opening set in the tie-break.
Murray and Soares responded well in the second set, winning 83 per cent of service points (20/24) to force a Match Tie-break. The Acapulco champions secured the only break of the set in the fourth game, capitalising on a double fault from Farah to lead 3-1.
But Cabal and Farah regained the momentum in the decider, establishing an 8/4 lead, and despite Murray and Soares battling back to 8/8, Cabal and Farah clinched the win on their first match point after a double fault from Murray.
Meanwhile, Carreno Busta and Sousa continued their Cinderella run in Rome, reaching their first final as a team. The Spanish-Portuguese duo rallied past Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-5 to conclude play on Saturday. On the outside looking in to start the week, they entered the doubles draw when Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan withdrew due to injury. Now, the tandem will play for their maiden Masters 1000 crowns.
Carreno Busta will be appearing in his first Masters 1000 final and first title match on the ATP World Tour since prevailing in Rio de Janeiro last year with Cuevas. Sousa will be contesting his first doubles final at any level since 2013, at the ATP Challenger Tour event in San Benedetto.
Did You Know?
In Cabal and Farah’s past two events, at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and the Mutua Madrid Open, they were beaten by the eventual champions in Match Tie-breaks.