Fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Jack Sock streaked to the Swiss Indoors Basel title on Sunday, lifting the trophy in their first tournament as a team.
“We knew well going into the week that if we played well, we could be a dangerous team,” said Sock. “We’re both crafty and like playing from the baseline, but are also comfortable at the net. We served well and he returned very well. He usually carries me on the return games. We just had fun out there and kept it light and loose.”
The Spanish-American duo prevailed 6-3, 6-4 over Robert Lindstedt and Michael Venus in exactly one hour at the St. Jakobshalle, saving three of four break points faced. They claimed an initial break to love in the second game of the first set and another to open the second set, eventually earning the win on their first match point.
“I will be playing with Ivan Dodig next season,” said Granollers. “That’s my plan, but I had a great week with Jack here. We had fun and won the title, so it’s a very good way to end the season.”
For Granollers, it was the 30-year-old’s 13th ATP World Tour doubles title and third of 2016. He previously triumphed on the clay of Bastad (w/Marrero) and in Tokyo earlier this month (w/Matkowski). Sock, 24, notched his eighth ATP World Tour doubles crown and second in three weeks. He recently lifted the Masters 1000 trophy in Shanghai with John Isner. The tandem earn 500 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €114,100 in prize money.
Lindstedt and Venus, who were also playing for the first time this week, entered the final on the heels of an upset win over top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau on Saturday. The Swede is 20-22 in ATP World Tour finals, while the Kiwi fell to 5-7. They plan to team together full-time next season.
Andy Murray moved one step closer to becoming world number one by beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 7-6 (8-6) in the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
The Scot, 29, asserted his dominance in the first set against Frenchman Tsonga in his 78th singles match of the year.
But he faced a revived Tsonga in the second, needing a tie-break to win it.
The Briton will replace Novak Djokovic as number one by winning next week’s Paris Masters, provided Djokovic does not reach the final.
Three times a Grand Slam winner and twice Olympic champion, Murray has never been top of the world rankings.
His win in Vienna win is his third consecutive title after recent successes in Beijing and Shanghai and he has lost only three times since the French Open in June.
For the first set and a half it was Murray who controlled the match but Tsonga, who had beaten Murray only twice in their previous 15 meetings, came alive and produced an aggressive display to take the second set to a tie-break.
Tsonga continued to attack at the net but Murray’s fifth ace of the match ensured a career-best seventh title of the season.
Dominika Cibulkova claimed the biggest victory of her career with a 6-3 6-4 win over world number one Angelique Kerber in the decider of the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Making her debut at the season-ending event, she raced into a 3-0 first-set lead, wrapping it up in 30 minutes.
The Slovak, 27, kept up the momentum and sealed an emotional victory with a dramatic double net-cord.
“This is the biggest moment of my career,” said the world number eight.
She had lost to Kerber in the round-robin phase and booked her place in the final after a thrilling three-set win over Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia on Saturday.
And she once again showed her determination and commitment against the German, who won two Grand Slams this year in Australia and the United States.
Cibulkova found her range from the start of the match, hitting winners at will and Kerber struggled to cope with the variety of shots.
The only time Cibulkova looked nervous in the 76-minute match was when she was serving for it at 6-3 5-4. She missed on three match points and saved two break points before winning.
Cibulkova, who will end the year as world number five, is the second player in a row after Agnieszka Radwanska to win the WTA Finals after only one victory in the three round-robin games.
World number 13 Nick Kyrgios could have his eight-week tournament ban cut to three after agreeing to a “care plan”.
The Australian was banned and fined for behaviour, including “lack of best efforts”, at the Shanghai Masters.
The ATP confirmed the 21-year-old had “taken up the care plan on offer” but details are “strictly confidential”.
If he completes the plan, Kyrgios can play from 7 November rather than the initial ban expiration date of 15 January 2017.
Kyrgios came under scrutiny after his 6-3 6-1 defeat by Mischa Zverev of Germany, in which he returned serves tamely and received a code violation for verbally abusing a spectator.
Tennis Australia has said it is “our responsibility” to help Kyrgios.
Last year, he was fined $1,500 (£1,230) for a foul-mouthed outburst while playing in Shanghai, China.
That came two months after he was given a suspended 28-day ban for making a sexual comment about Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka’s girlfriend during a match.
Earlier this year, his attitude was questioned after he lost convincingly to British world number two Andy Murray in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Croatian will try to win his 16th career title against Nishikori
Saturday was a very good day for Marin Cilic.
By winning his semi-final match at the Swiss Indoors Basel, the Croat played himself into his second ATP World Tour final of the season and inside the cut to make the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London.
The former US Open champion advanced by producing emotional tennis against serve/volleying lefty Mischa Zverev, who’s finding his best tennis after years of injuries. Cilic saved six of seven break points to come back from a set down and prevail against the 29-year-old 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
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Cilic will meet third seed Kei Nishikori in Sunday’s final. The Japanese leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 7-4 but Cilic won the last time they met in a final, at Flushing Meadows in 2014. The Croatian will be going for his second title of the season, having won his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown in August in Cincinnati (d. Murray).
The 6’6” right-hander also will be attempting to solidify his position among London contenders. With his semi-final victory, Cilic gained 120 more points and leapfrogged Tomas Berdych to take the No. 9 spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London. The top eight players at the end of the season will qualify for the event. (Rafael Nadal currently occupies the No. 7 spot but will not compete again until 2017.)
View The Emirates ATP Race To London
Should Cilic win Sunday’s final, he’d gain 200 more points and would have a total of 3,090, only 115 points behind No. 8 Dominic Thiem heading into the BNP Paribas Masters, the final tournament of the regular season. Almost half – seven – of Cilic’s 15 titles have come indoors, with his most recent indoors title coming last year at Moscow (d. Bautista Agut).
Cilic has competed at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals one other time, in 2014. He went 0-3 in the round-robin stage.
FINAL PREVIEW: The Swiss Indoors Basel championship on Sunday features two of the bright stars on the ATP World Tour as No. 4 seed Marin Cilic takes on No. 3 seed Kei Nishikori. This is the 12th meeting between the two with Nishikori holding a 7-4 advantage although they each have won 16 sets. This is also their second meeting in a final. At the 2014 US Open, Cilic defeated Nishikori in straight sets to capture his first Grand Slam crown. Both players have served well en route to the final, holding a combined 87 of 90 games. The winner will earn his second ATP World Tour title of the season.
Cilic, who has held serve 42 of 43 games in his four matches, moved to No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race to London by beating Mischa Zverev on Saturday. The 28-year-old Croat holds the final position for the season finale by 10 points over Tomas Berdych. If Cilic wins the title, he will increase the margin to 210 points going into the final ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season in Paris, which begins on Monday. No. 9 is the cut for qualification at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with Rafael Nadal out for the season. Cilic is appearing in his fourth ATP World Tour final of the season (1-2) and 27th in his career (15-11). His lone title came at ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati in August (d. Murray).
Nishikori is appearing in his fifth ATP World Tour final of the year (1-3). The 26-year-old Japanese star has won a personal-best 56 matches this season and has qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the third straight year. Nishikori reached the Basel final five years ago in his debut (d. No. 1 Djokovic in SF, l. to No. 4 Federer) and he has held serve 45 of 47 games (saving 13 of 15 break points). He saved two match points in his three-set semi-final win over Gilles Muller. Nishikori, who captured the Memphis title for the fourth year in a row in February, is making his 20th appearance in a final (11-8).
Robert Lindstedt and Michael Venus dented Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau’s London hopes on Saturday at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The Swede/Kiwi pairing saved seven of nine break points to come back to defeat Rojer/Tecau 1-6, 3-6, 10-8 in the semi-finals.
Lindstedt/Venus will face either second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin or fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Jack Sock in the Basel final.
Rojer/Tecau are the defending champions at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, but they’re in danger of missing the cut this season. Rojer/Tecau are currently No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, one spot outside of qualification. The top eight doubles teams at the end of the season will qualify for the year-end championships, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London.
View The Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London
The top seeds breezed through the opening set, earning their two breaks. But Lindstedt/Venus converted on their lone break point in the second set to even the match. They then capitalised on the momentum shift by racing to a 7-1 lead in the Match Tie-break and closed out the win in 67 minutes.
Vienna Doubles Final Set
Fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo ended Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan’s career milestone celebration at the Erste Bank Open 500. On Friday, the Americans beat Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki in the quarter-finals in Vienna to become the first team to reach 1,000 doubles team match wins in ATP World Tour history.
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But Kubot/Melo won nearly 80 per cent of their first-serve points to beat the Bryan brothers 4-6, 6-2, 12-10 and reach the Vienna final. Kubot/Melo will face Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin on Sunday. Marach/Martin entered Saturday in 11th place in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London.
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