There is little doubt as to who the two best doubles teams on the ATP World Tour have been this season. So it is only fitting that the top two seeds at the Nitto ATP Finals will battle for the title at the season finale. After a tight opening set, Henri Kontinen and John Peers used the momentum they gained from blitzing Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in a tie-break to steamroll into their second consecutive final at The O2, defeating the fourth seeds in the semi-finals, 7-6(2), 6-2, in 78 minutes. The defending champions will get a crack at winning the title at The O2 once again on Sunday against top-seeded Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who will finish...
David Goffin was perplexed. After he reached the Nitto ATP Finals semi-finals, the Belgian was asked what he would have to do to beat Roger Federer for the first time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Goffin had been 0-6 against the Swiss, including a 6-1, 6-2 loss in the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors Basel last month. “Honestly, I don't know what to do tomorrow,” Goffin said. The Belgian did some quick thinking. Goffin shocked Federer on Saturday, coming back from a set down to eliminate the second seed and pick up his first win against Federer, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Goffin, who qualified for the season finale for the first time, will play for the biggest title of his...
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo stand one match win away from their 50th victory of the year and the Nitto ATP Finals title, which would represent their seventh trophy over the past 11 months. The top-seeded Polish-Brazilian team, who have clinched the 2017 year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings, knocked out eighth seed Ryan Harrison of the United States and New Zealand’s Michael Venus 6-1, 6-4 in 64 minutes on Saturday for a place in the title match. Kubot and Melo, who are 49-17 on the season, will bid to capture their seventh title of 2017 against second seeds and defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who defeated fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares...
Grigor Dimitrov is finishing the ATP World Tour season just like he started it: in top form and full of confidence. The sixth seed strolled into the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday night, beating alternate Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-1, 6-1 to finish Group Pete Sampras play a perfect 3-0. Dimitrov joins Group Boris Becker winner Roger Federer as the only unbeaten singles players, and the Bulgarian has looked impressive doing so. In his opening match, he needed three sets to advance past fourth seed Dominic Thiem, but against Carreno Busta and fellow semi-finalist David Goffin, Dimitrov lost only four games in four sets. “I wanted to keep on going with the style that I've been...
With the end of round-robin play at the Nitto ATP Finals approaching, only one spot in the semi-finals at the season finale remained. For Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, the scenario was simple on Friday evening — win or go home. And despite a spirited comeback by the top seeds, the Scottish-Brazilian pairing booked their spot in the final four with an impressive 6-2, 6-4 victory over Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo. Not only did they clinch a semi-final berth, but Murray and Soares won Group Woodbridge/Woodforde, relegating Kubot and Melo, who will finish at No. 1 in the year-end Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings, to second in the group. Kubot and Melo had led the FedEx ATP Head2Head series...
