Bolelli/Fognini To Meet Klaasen/Melo In Final
Watch a live stream of the doubles final from 7.30am CEST/1.30am EDT on TennisTV.com
Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini boosted their bid to qualify for the doubles competition at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, advancing to their fourth tour-level final of the year at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Currently No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, the Italians rallied past Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 5-7, 7-6(5), 10-3. They saved one match point in the ninth game of the second set. Bolelli and Fognini are bidding to reach the season finale at The O2 in London for the first time, following a successful early-season campaign at the Australian Open and final runs at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo.
Entering Sunday’s final with a 2-3 record in tour-level title matches, individually, Bolelli carries a 4-4 mark in his ninth final and Fognini a 3-7 record in his 11th final. The Italian duo hope it will be third time lucky in Masters 1000 finals when they face sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo.
Klaasen and Melo are riding a seven-match win streak after triumphing at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo last week. They ousted eighth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Lukasz Kubot 6-3, 6-7(1), 10-7 in one hour and 34 minutes on Saturday, saving six of seven break points. Klaasen will be appearing in his first Masters 1000 final and 15th overall at the tour-level (8-6 record), while Melo is seeking to capture his second Shanghai crown and 17th in 35 ATP World Tour finals. He teamed with Ivan Dodig in 2013, prevailing over David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco.