By Glenys Furness
- Joe Salisbury retained ATP Finals doubles title
- Brit/American pair dropped three sets en route
TURIN, ITALY – Joe Salisbury & Rajeev Ram retained their end of season doubles title at the ATP finals. The Brit/Americans were the sixth seeds.
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The ATP finals, the end of season event on the main tour, saw Joe Salisbury with Rajeev Ram as the sixth seeds from the eight teams entered. The Brit/American pair were in the Red Group. Their first match was against third seeds Matthew Ebden & Rohan Bopanna. Salisbury & Ram started well and soon broke serve of their higher ranked opponents and took the lead. The second set was more of the same as the Brit/American battled hard and broke serve of Ebden & Bopanna to take their first win of the round robin in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
Their second match was against second seeds Neal Skupski & Wesley Koolhof. The Brit/Dutch pair were broken early by Salisbury & Ram and they took the lead. The second seeds fought back in the second set and broke the Brit/American serve to level up the match. In the ensuing match tiebreak the sixth seeds edged through to claim the second win 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.
The third and final round robin match was against eighth seeds Jason Kubler & Rinky Hijikata. The Australians stayed toe to toe with the Brit/American pair and broke serve right at the end of the set and took the lead. The second set was dominated by Salisbury & Ram who re-grouped and levelled up the match. The ensuing match tiebreak was also dominated by the Brit/American and they moved into the semi-finals 5-7, 6-1, 10-2.
In the semi-final the sixth seeds were against fourth seeds Edouard Roger-Vasselin & Santiago Gonzalez. The first set was very close, as neither pair gave an inch. The Brit/American forced a tiebreak which they edged and took the lead. The second set saw the fourth seeds fight back and level the match. In the ensuing match tiebreak Salisbury & Ram edged through and booked a spot in the final to try and defend their title 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-7.
The final saw the Brit/American against fifth seeds Horacio Zeballos & Marcel Granollers. Salisbury & Ram broke early in the first set to take the lead and one set away from retaining their title. The second set was a little closer as the fifth seeds stayed with the Brit/American. Eventually, Salisbury & Ram broke serve and held on to take the title in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
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Doubles Round Up
Joshua Paris with Daniel Cukierman were defeated by Patrik Niklas-Salminen & Petr Nouza in the quarter-final in Danderyd 7-5, 6-4.
Julian Cash with Bart Stevens defeated Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth in the final in Danderyd 6-7(7), 6-4, 10-7.
Charles Broom & Ben Jones were defeated by Giles Hussey & Liam Draxl in the first round in Drummondville 6-3, 7-5.
Scott Duncan with Kelsey Stevenson were defeated by Giles Hussey & Liam Draxl in the quarter-final in Drummondville 6-4, 6-1.
Toby Samuel with Andre Goransson defeated Giles Hussey & Liam Draxl in the final in Drummondville 6-7(2), 6-3, 10-8.
Mark Whitehouse & Marcus Willis were defeated by George Goldhoff & Alfredo Perez in the quarter-final in Champaign 6-3, 6-4.
Oliver Okonkwo with Lucas Horve were defeated by John-Patrick Smith & Sam Verbeek in the final in Champaign 6-2, 7-6(4).
Emilie Lindh Gallagher with Stefania Bojica were defeated by Anastasia Kovaleva & Elena Pridankina in the quarter-final in Funchal 0-0 (RET).
Finn Murgett with Piotr Pawlak were defeated by Robert Cash & Bryce Nakashima Nakashima in the quarter-final in Columbus 6-3, 3-6, 14-12.
Jacob Fearnley with Luc Fomba were defeated by Nikita Filin & Preston Stearns in the quarter-final in Columbus 4-6, 7-6(0), 10-8.
Johannus Monday with Shunsuke Mitsui were defeated by Robert Cash & Bryce Nakashima Nakashima in the final in Columbus 7-5, 7-6(10).
Matthew Rankin with Alafia Ayeni were defeated by Robin Catry & Fons Van Sambeek in the final in East Lansing 6-3, 6-4.
Ben Hudson with Bruno Oliveira were defeated by Thomas Pavlekovich Smith & Lawrence Sciglitano in the quarter-final in Boca Raton 6-3,6-3.
Jay Clarke with Sergey Fomin were defeated by Tuncay Duran & Stefan Popovic in the first round in Antalya 6-4, 6-4.
Nicolas Philibert with Niklas Waldner were defeated by Nick Chappell & Aziz Ouakaa in the first round in Monastir 6-2, 6-3.
Phoenix Weir with Slim Troost were defeated by Aleksandr Lobanov & Alexey Nesterov in the first round in Monastir M25 7-6(3), 3-6, 10-2.
Felix Mischker with Lorenzo Lorusso were defeated by Fabrizio Andaloro & Samir Hamza Reguig in the quarter-final in Monastir M25 2-6, 6-2, 13-11.
James Beaven & Toby Martin were defeated by Aleksandr Lobanov & Alexey Nesterov in the semi-final in Monastir M25 6-4, 6-2.
Anthony Wright with Umberto Maria Giovannini were defeated by Egor Agafonov & Alexander Donski in the quarter-final in Monastir M15 6-3, 6-4.
Lucia Cassidy with Dilara Okur were defeated by Mema Refaat & Milana Zhabrailova in the first round in Monastir 6-1, 6-0.
Imogen Haddad with Olivia Carneiro were defeated by Vanessa Teiusanu & Hanna Vinahrdava in the first round in Monastir 0-6, 6-4, 10-5.
James Davis with Alex Knaff were defeated by Simon Freund & Christopher Papa in the first round in Heraklion 6-3, 6-3.
David Stevenson & Harry Wendelken were defeated by Neil Oberleitner & Joel Schwaerzler in the semi-final in Heraklion 4-6, 7-6(3), 13-11.
Anna Popescu with Laura Svatikova were defeated by Martina Colmegna & Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez in the semi-final in Heraklion 6-1, 6-0.
Katie Dyson with Yasmine Wagner were defeated by Yasmin Ezzat & Zuzanna Pawlikowska in the quarter-final in Sharm-El-Sheikh 6-0, 6-1.
Giacomo Revelli with Karlo Cubelic were defeated by Griorgiy Lomakin & Evgeny Philippov in the semi-final in Sharm-El-Sheikh 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 12-10.
Harriet Dart with Valeria Savinykh were defeated by Guo Hanyu & Jiang Xinyu in the first round in Takasaki 7-5, 6-4.
Alicia Barnett & Samantha Murray Sharan defeated Ali Collins & Isabelle Haverlag in the final in Petange 6-7(4), 6-1, 10-6.
Nell Miller with Ruxandra Schech were defeated by Jacqueline Cabaj Awad & Maria Fernanda Navarro in the quarter-final in Santo Domingo 6-3, 7-5.
Next week Brits play in Malaga, Valencia, Portugal, Turkey, Tunisia, Australia, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Japan & Italy.
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