Fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo repeated as Erste Bank Open 500 champions on Sunday to win their second ATP World Tour team doubles title. The Polish/Brazilian pairing outlasted Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin 4-6, 6-3, 13-11 in one hour and 43 minutes in Vienna.
Kubot/Melo led the back-and-forth Match Tie-break 9-6 before Marach/Martin saved three match points and another at 9-10. Marach/Martin then held their own championship point at 11-10, but Kubot/Melo rattled off three consecutive points to clinch the ATP World Tour 500 crown on their fifth championship point. They will receive 500 Emirates ATP Rankings points and split €126,400 in prize money.
“We had great memories from last year and were trying to [bring] our best tennis,” Kubot said.
The title is Kubot's first of the season after finishing runner-up in Estoril with Marcin Matkowski and in Halle and Washington with Alexander Peya. The 34 year old improves to 14-10 in ATP World Tour finals.
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Melo celebrates his third ATP World Tour title of the season. His two prior – Toronto and Cincinnati – had come with his regular partner, Ivan Dodig. The two have already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London. “I feel great,” Melo said. “I'm really looking forward to coming [to Vienna] next year.”
Marach and Martin were trying to improve their position in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. Had they won on Sunday, Marach/Martin would have leapfrogged to the No. 10 spot in the race. The top eight doubles teams at the end of the season will qualify for the year-end championships. For their runner-up finish, they will receive 300 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €59,720 in prize money.