Martin Klizan and David Marrero won their second Konzum Croatia Open Umag title on Saturday, needing only 59 minutes to defeat Croatians Nikola Mektic and Antonio Sancic 6-4, 6-2. The Slovakian/Spaniard duo erased two break points and pounced on the Croatians’ second serves, winning 16/21 help them earn three breaks.

It’s Klizan/Marrero’s second overall ATP World Tour team title (Umag 2013). Klizan remained perfect in ATP World Tour finals: 4-0 in doubles finals and 5-0 in singles. Marrero improved to 13-14 in finals and won a title for the second consecutive week. He and countryman Marcel Granollers won the Bastad doubles title on 17 July. Klizan/Marrero will receive 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €25,070.

Mektic/Sancic were making their ATP World Tour doubles final debut. They had been 1-5 in ATP Challenger Tour finals. They’ll receive 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €13,170.

Top seed Feliciano Lopez returned to the final of the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open for the first time in 10 years with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Dustin Brown on Saturday.

“It’s a long time since my last final here,” said Lopez. “I have great memories and it’s definitely a great feeling to be in the final here because it means I can still be competitive after 10 years.” 

Lopez plays Robin Haase for the championship at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament. The Dutch player defeated 2007 champion and eighth seed Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second semi-final, 7-6(4), 7-6(2). He’s into his first ATP World Tour final since Vienna in October 2013 and now seeks his first ATP World Tour title since winning back-to-back tournaments in Kitzbuhel in 2011 and 2012.

Haase leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1, including a 2013 semi-final win in Gstaad. “I’m very happy,” he said. “My goal is to win [tomorrow]. I’ve played him here before, I won and I hope I can take that as an advantage into tomorrow.”

The 34-year-old Spaniard needed one hour and 30 minutes to defeat Brown in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Brown, 31, was playing in his second ATP World Tour semi-final (Montpellier 2016, l. to Gasquet), and had beaten two former Swiss Open champions in his last two matches: two-time titlist Thomaz Bellucci (second round) and 2013 champ Mikhail Youzhny (quarter-finals).

“Dustin is a difficult player to play. He plays tricky shots, serves very good and has very good hands when he comes to the net. It was a tough match for me to play, but I think overall I had a great performance,” said Lopez. “I’ve played against [Robin] many times, so it’s going to be very tough.”

Haase saved four break points in his opening service game, but he and Mathieu traded routine service holds throughout the rest of the opening set to force a tie-break. The tie-break was even at 3/3 when a rain delay forced both players off the court. When they returned, Haase raced to a 6/3 lead and converted on his third set point.

The Dutchman earned the first break of the match by breaking Mathieu to love and grabbing a 2-0 lead, but the Frenchman fought back by breaking his opponent in the next game. They each held serve all the way to the tie-break, where Haase went on a four-point run to take a 5/2 lead and closed out the semi-final on his second match point.

Fourth Seeds Book Final Berth

Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos, fourth seeds in Gstaad, edged the unseeded Dutch-Austrian pairing of Sander Arends and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn 6-1, 3-6, 11-9 in the semi-finals. The Chilean-Argentine duo will face top seeds Mate Pavic of Croatia and Michael Venus of New Zealand in Sunday’s final.

Paolo Lorenzi beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel to capture his first ATP World Tour title. At 34 years, seven months, the Italian became the oldest first-time winner in ATP World Tour history. It was his second ATP World Tour final, having finished runner-up in Sao Paulo in February 2014.

ATPWorldTour.com spoke to Lorenzi after his victory in Kitzbuhel.

How does it feel to be holding your first ATP World Tour singles trophy at the age of 34?

I think it’s great to win an ATP trophy. I don’t look at the age. I can say that I’m really happy and I don’t mind if it’s happening at 34.

When you were growing up, was it a goal of yours to win an ATP World Tour event?

When I was younger, I think the dream is to become No. 1 and win a Grand Slam, but of course it’s not so easy and only a few players can do this. But a goal of this year was to win one trophy, so this is great for me.

Did you have a different approach for this final compared to your other one in Sao Paulo in 2014?

I think I had a different approach because I already made it to one final. In Sao Paulo, I was one set up. Today, I was one set and one break up, but I was just thinking about playing my best tennis.

What are your goals for the rest of the season?

My goal was to play the Olympics for Italy, so I will go to Rio now. Afterwards, I will try to play more big tournaments with my ranking and try to do my best.

When you look at this season, what do you think has improved the most in your game?

I’m changing a lot. I’m still too far behind the baseline sometimes, so I need to be more aggressive. We’re working every day to try and do something more. I need to improve a lot of things, so this is just the start.

What do you think are the strengths of your game?

I think my mentality. During the match, I’m just thinking about what I have to do and trying to do my best on every point.

Who are the players you looked up to growing up?

Growing up, I liked Boris Becker because my brother was for Stefan Edberg, so we need to fight each other. I’m not enjoying the tennis like before because now when I see a player, I’m trying to study them. But before, it was Boris.

What do you like to do for fun?

When I have time, I read a lot. I read almost a book a week. And when I have a few days off for a holiday, I always go to the sea with my girlfriend.

Who has helped you through your career to get where are you today?

My family. My parents, my brother and in the last year my girlfriend have helped me so much, so I have to say thanks to them.

It was a night of firsts for Vasek Pospisil on Friday in Toronto as he threw out the first pitch at the Blue Jays’ game against the Seattle Mariners.

“That was the first time I’ve ever thrown a baseball in my life so I’m pretty happy with how it went,” said Pospisil. “It’s also the first time I’ve ever been to a baseball game so I’m really pumped.”

The Canadian is in Toronto ready to compete at the Rogers Cup, the sixth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season, which begins on Monday.

Pospisil is looking for a return to form at the tournament where he made his breakthrough three years ago, when it was held in Montreal, by reaching the semi-finals (l. to Raonic). The 26 year old opens his bid against Jeremy Chardy and also competes in the doubles alongside countryman Daniel Nestor.

Top seeds Wesley Koolhof/Matwe Middelkoop won their second ATP World Tour title of the year on Saturday at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel, saving a championship point to prevail over wild cards Dominic Thiem/Dennis Novak, 2-6, 6-3 11-9.

“We had a few tough matches [this week],” said Middelkoop. “We won with four match tie-breaks. We learned how to deal with pressure and dealt with it in a good way.”

The Austrian pair opened the match by breaking serve and converted on both of their break point chances in the opening set. But the Dutch pair fought back, earning the lone break of serve in the second set to lead 3/1 and holding onto the momentum to force the championship into a match tie-break.

Thiem/Novak rallied from 4/8 down in the match tie-break to win five straight points, but couldn’t convert on their championship point at 9/8. Koolhof/Middelkoop won the final three points to take the title.

“To play against Dominic Thiem in such a big court and at such a big event is a dream come true,” said Middelkoop. “It was a big honour to play for that crowd.”

Koolhof added, “This was the first time I played in front of a big crowd like that [with 5,500 people in the stadium]. It was a great atmosphere.”

Koolhof/Middelkoop won their first-ever ATP World Tour doubles title February at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open in February. They split €25,070 in prize money and earned 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points.

Thiem was appearing in his first ATP World Tour doubles final and Novak in his first ATP World Tour final of any kind. They split €13,170 and 150 points.

Gael Monfils returned to some of his best tennis at the Citi Open on Friday, dazzling the Washington crowd with absurd angles and holding back a solid showing from American Sam Querrey 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Monfils advanced to the Washington semi-finals for the third time in as many tournament appearances.

The second seeded Frenchman will face compatriot Benoit Paire or #NextGen star Alexander Zverev. Monfils lost his only previous contest against Paire and is 2-0 against Zverev.

Facing Querrey, Monfils grabbed the early advantage with a break in the seventh game to go up 4-3. The 29-year-old right-hander cruised on his serve during the first set. Querrey, though, stepped up his play and broke Monfils in the early stages of the second set and the Wimbledon quarter-finalist looked confident blasting forehands and big serves.

But Monfils took back the momentum and led 3-0 in the third set before taking the match. He last reached the Washington semi-finals the last time he played at the tournament: 2011, en route to his only Washington final (l. to Stepanek). Monfils also reached the last four in 2007 (l. to Isner).