Frenchmen To Face Murray/Soares For Cincy Title

Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut continued their ruthless run through the North American summer ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, improving to 7-0 with a 6-4, 7-6(9) win against Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus in the Western & Southern Open semi-finals.

Herbert and Mahut lifted the trophy at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal last week and will battle for their 10th team title on Sunday against Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. Herbert/Mahut are also bidding for a sixth Masters 1000 crown together, all at different tournaments.

The last team to win in Canada and Cincinnati in the same season was Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, who accomplished the feat last year.

The fifth seeds needed one hour and 35 minutes to dispatch Harrison and Venus, converting their fifth match point. They fired eight aces, while saving the lone break point faced.

Earlier on Saturday, Murray and Soares advanced to their 10th final as a team, downing Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 6-4, 7-5 in Cincinnati. There were just two break points in the one-hour and 22-minute affair and the British-Brazilian duo converted both.

Murray and Soares will vie for their first Masters 1000 title together, appearing in a third such final. They finished runners-up in both Monte-Carlo and Toronto in 2016. The team is 3-1 in ATP World Tour finals this year, however, having won three straight title matches in Acapulco, Stuttgart and The Queen’s Club.

It has been a dominant week for Murray and Soares, who have not dropped a set en route to the final. They got their revenge over Kubot and Melo on Saturday, having dropped both previous encounters this year at the Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.