Henri Kontinen and John Peers continued their dominant run in ATP World Tour doubles finals, improving to 8-1 as a team with victory at the China Open on Sunday. The top seeds edged American duo John Isner and Jack Sock 6-3, 3-6, 10/7, prevailing after one hour and 10 minutes in Beijing. Kontinen and Peers added a second ATP World Tour 500 level crown to their trophy haul, having triumphed at the Citi Open in Washington in August. Also the champions at the Australian Open to open the year, they split $196,420 in prize money. The No. 2 team in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, the Finnish-Aussie duo pull to within 760 points of Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo...
Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama had the Ariake Colosseum rocking on Sunday afternoon at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 when they became the first all-Japanese titlists in Tokyo for 12 years. Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako of Japan watched the historic final unfold. Mclachlan, New Zealand-born by a Japanese mother, and Uchiyama defeated second-seeded Briton Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-4, 7-6(1) in one hour and 32 minutes for their first ATP World Tour team title. "It hasn't really sunk in," said Uchiyama. "We have been the challengers all week and today as well, but I noticed that they were feeling the pressure and at that point, we were able to play well and push our...
Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama became the first all-Japanese team to reach the Tokyo final in 12 years on Saturday at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017. The wild card team defeated Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Chile’s Julio Peralta 7-5, 6-4 in the semi-finals, much to the delight of hundreds of spectators watching in the Ariake Colosseum. The pair will now face second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares on Sunday, where they hope to follow in the footsteps of Japan’s Satoshi Iwabuchi and Takao Suzuki who captured the 2005 trophy with victory over Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Australia’s Todd Perry. Meanwhile, at the China Open in Beijing, top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers set a...
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares edged a high-quality doubles semi-final on Friday to remain on course at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017. Soares is now one match win away from 400 career victories. Second seeds Murray and Soares scraped past Dominic Inglot and Daniel Nestor 6-7(3), 6-1, 11-9 in 87 minutes for a place in the Tokyo final. Murray first served on match point at 9/8 in the Match tie-break, but Inglot poached for a superb backhand volley at close quarters. Two points later, on Murray and Soares’ second match point, Soares struck a crosscourt backhand lob to seal victory. Murray and Soares move up one spot to No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, adding 120...
Second seeds Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray reached the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships on Thursday by beating Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner 6-3, 6-4 in 67 minutes. As a result, Murray and Soares have moved to within 10 points in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London of No. 4-ranked Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (4,355) as teams battle to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November. Murray and Soares, the only seeds left in the field with a 3-2 in finals record this year (7-4 overall as a team), will next challenge Dominic Inglot and Daniel Nestor in the Tokyo semi-finals. Japanese wild cards Ben...
