Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos improved to 3-0 in ATP World Tour doubles finals this year, taking the title at the Moselle Open on Sunday. The Chilean-Argentine duo fired seven aces and saved all five break points faced to down third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 6-3, 7-6(4) in the Metz final. A rematch of the final on the clay of Gstaad in July, Peralta and Zeballos defeated their third straight seeded team to prevail. They had stormed back from a set down to upset both fourth seeds Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and second seeds Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin earlier in the week. "We really felt great with our game today," said Zeballos. "It was a tough...
Dominic Inglot and Henri Kontinen saved a match point and captured their first ATP World Tour title together on Sunday at the St. Petersburg Open. The Brit and Fin improved to a perfect 4-0 together by prevailing against German Andre Begemann and Indian Leander Paes 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 to win the ATP World Tour 250 doubles crown. The comeback in the final marked the third match of the tournament in which Inglot/Kontinen fought back from a set down. They cut their margins especially close against Begemann/Paes, who had not dropped a set before Sunday and were playing in their second ATP World Tour final of the season after falling at the Winston-Salem Open in August to Kontinen and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Begemann/Paes...
Lucas Pouille is a man on a mission in 2016 and the 22-year-old will look to add a first ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the Moselle Open. Pouille is set to face top seed Dominic Thiem in the Metz final after dispatching 2014 champion David Goffin 7-6(6), 6-1 on Saturday. He punctuated the one-hour and 21-minute victory with an emphatic forehand pass at the net on his first match point. The third seed, who fired 32 winners, crashed the net often in claiming 12 of 14 points when coming forward. Pouille enters his second ATP World Tour final in fine form following a quarter-final run at the US Open. Runner-up in Bucharest (l. to Verdasco) earlier this year,...
Stan Wawrinka will try to win a career-best fifth ATP World Tour title of the season on Sunday when he faces #NextGen player Alexander Zverev in the St. Petersburg Open final. The top seed advanced to his fifth final of the year and 25th of his career by beating Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(8), 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes on Saturday. The Swiss saved two set points in the first set before claiming the 18-point tie-break. He broke to start the second set and again at 4-2 to take his 10th victory in a row. Wawrinka also improved to a perfect 6-0 in sets in St. Petersburg. [ALSO LIKE] Both players fought for every big point in the semi-final. Wawrinka saved...
With the top four seeds in the semi-finals of an ATP World Tour event for the first time in 2016, a pair of enticing match-ups were on tap on Saturday at the Moselle Open. Top seed Dominic Thiem kicked off proceedings in Metz with a dramatic rally to overcome two-time champion Gilles Simon 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. The Austrian found himself with his back against the wall with Simon serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but he would not be denied his spot in the final. Thiem broke back with a massive down-the-line forehand and secured another break at 6-5 to force a decider with a cross-court backhand winner. Thiem continued to apply pressure on Simon's serve...