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...
Second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah won their fourth doubles title of 2016 on Sunday at the VTB Kremlin Cup, fighting hard to take a 7-5, 4-6, 10-5 victory over the veteran Austrian duo of Julian Knowle/Jurgen Melzer. “It’s very special to win our first indoor title. We [had] never won more than one match at an indoor tournament,” said Cabal. “We felt very supported out there. We felt they were cheering for a high-quality tennis match and that’s what they got.” Currently No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, the Colombian duo is in contention to make their first appearance at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Their win in Moscow puts them within 500 points of...
Pablo Carreno Busta overcame injury and a set deficit to celebrate his second career ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow. The Spaniard outlasted Italian Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 inside Olympic Stadium. Carreno Busta won nearly 70 per cent of his first-serve points and benefitted from six Fognini double faults in the one-hour and 56-minute final. He also padded his already impressive 2016 résumé. The 25 year old has captured two ATP World Tour titles this season, having won the Winston-Salem Open crown in August (d. Bautista Agut). Carreno Busta finished runner-up on clay in Estoril and Sao Paulo. The Barcelona resident also became the third Spaniard to win two ATP World Tour...
Juan Martin del Potro ended a 33-month drought in style, racing to the finish 7-5, 6-1 against Jack Sock at the If Stockholm Open on Sunday. The Argentine’s most recent tour-level crown had come against Bernard Tomic in Sydney at the start of the 2014 season. He now owns 19 tour-level titles. “I’ve been trying to fix my problems for the past two years and I didn’t expect to win a title at this moment in my career,” del Potro said. “I am so happy to get the trophy here. It’s motivation for looking forward to the future. “I don’t really mind the rankings or the numbers. I just want to play better. When I’m 100 per cent I know...
Swedish brothers Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer completed a fairytale run on home soil, streaking to the If Stockholm Open doubles title on Sunday. A day after dropping just seven games against second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Treat Huey, the Ymers routed fourth seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 6-1, 6-1 in 51 minutes for their first ATP World Tour titles. They are the first Swedish duo to claim victory in Stockholm since 1998, when Nicklas Kulti and Mikael Tillstrom triumphed. "I don't think me or Mikael expected our first ATP title to come in doubles, especially here in our hometown of Stockholm." said Elias. "We had a great time and I really enjoyed playing with my brother." #NextGen star...