Henri Kontinen and Marcelo Melo will go face-to-face on Thursday in a battle to decide who will be No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings on Monday, when the new list is published.
Kontinen and John Peers kept alive their hopes of capturing a second Grand Slam championship trophy of the season on Wednesday when they booked their place in the Wimbledon doubles semi-finals. The top seeds and Australian Open champions kept their nerve to beat No. 10 seeds and Roland Garros titlists Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 6-1 in three hours and 17 minutes.
Kontinen and Peers resumed on Wednesday leading 6-4, 6-7(5), 4-3, but were unable to convert two set point chances at 4-5 in the third set. Harrison and Venus could not secure one match point chance at 7/6 in the fourth-set tie-break, before a one-sided deciding set that lasted just 20 minutes.
They now face fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Melo, who saved three set points in the first-set tie-break en route to beating British brothers Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski 7-6(11), 6-4, 6-4. Kubot/Melo improve to 12-0 on grass this season after titles at the Ricoh Open (d. Klaasen/Ram) and Gerry Weber Open (d. Zverev/Zverev).
Kontinen will remain at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, a position he has held since 3 April this year, if he and Peers win the semi-final. Otherwise, Marcelo Melo will begin his 27th week in top spot, having last held the position in the week of 5 June 2016.
Croatians Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor booked their place in the semi-finals with a hard-fought 6-7(8), 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski in three hours and 11 minutes. The match had resumed on Wednesday at 1-1 in the third set. Podlipnik-Castillo and Vasilevski saved two set points at 6/7 and 7/8 in the first-set tie-break, closing out on their third opportunity at 9/8.
Mektic is playing in his fourth Grand Slam and had never reached the quarter-finals of a major, while Skugor is making his Grand Slam debut. They will next look to reach the final against No. 16 seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic on Thursday.