Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram advanced to their second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final of the season on Friday, beating Frenchmen Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 5-7, 7-5, 10-8 at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal. The South African and American pairing hit 10 aces and claimed 87 per cent of their first-serve points to move into the last four. They also reached the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where they won their first Masters 1000 title (d. Kubot/Melo). [ALSO LIKE] The sixth seeds will next face Indian Rohan Bopanna and Croatian Ivan Dodig, who beat another French team in Gael Monfils and Benoit Paire 6-2, 7-5. Bopanna/Dodig saved three of four break points to advance...
Watch highlights from Friday at the Coupe Rogers as Rajeev Ram and Raven Klaasen defeat Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin to reach the doubles SF in Montreal. Watch live matches at tennistv.com. Photo: Peter Staples
Rajeev Ram discusses moving on from singles to focus on his flourishing doubles career after playing his last singles match in Newport. Photo: Ben Solomon
Little by little, Rajeev Ram could feel the end coming. Last year the 33 year old played both singles and doubles at tournaments, but in practices, he couldn't push himself as much as he would have liked. Little injuries popped up here and there, and he had so much success in doubles with Raven Klaasen, including a run to the 2016 Nitto ATP Finals title match, that Ram started playing singles less and less. “I had a great year last year in singles even and in doubles. But I could just feel the wear and tear starting to take its toll,” said Ram, who reached the Delray Beach Open singles final and won two doubles titles last year. Ram wants...
Playing together for the first time this week, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Rajeev Ram notched the doubles title at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open. Qureshi and Ram defeated Aussie duo Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 on Saturday. The win came one day after rallying past third seeds Sam Groth and Leander Paes 11-9 in a Match Tie-break, saving eight match points. It was the second doubles title in Newport for both players, with Qureshi prevailing in 2015 with Jonathan Marray and Ram in 2009 with Jordan Kerr. In total, Qureshi captured his 15th ATP World Tour doubles crown and fourth of the year (with four different partners). For Ram, it was title No. 13 and his...