Ram & Salisbury Survive Opening Nitto ATP Finals Rollercoaster

Will this be the year Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury emerge victorious at the Nitto ATP Finals? The American-British duo made a good start on Sunday evening in Turin.

The second seeds battled past seventh seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 6-7(8), 10-8 in a Turin rollercoaster to move to 1-0 in Red Group action. They needed one hour and 51 minutes to win a topsy-turvy encounter at the Pala Alpitour.

Ram and Salisbury had the match well in hand up a set and leading 6/4 in the second-set tie-break, but Granollers and Zeballos refused to go away. They showed clutch returning to claw into a Match Tie-break.

A thrilling match came to a surprising end when Zeballos missed a high swinging forehand volley on Ram and Salisbury’s third match point. This year’s US Open champions have now won five consecutive matches against Granollers and Zeballos.

The clash was full of highlight-reel shotmaking, with all four players hitting stunning returns and showing superb athleticism on centre court. Earlier in the day, Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara opened Red Group with a victory against Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer.

Ram and Salisbury have positive memories at the Pala Alpitour, where they advanced to the championship match last year. This is the duo’s fourth consecutive appearance together at the season finale.