Defending Champs Jebavy/Middelkoop Back In St. Petersburg Final

Roman Jebavy and Matwe Middelkoop lifted their first ATP World Tour trophy as a team at last year’s St. Petersburg Open. And one year later at the same event, the pair is one victory away from retaining that crown. 

Third-seeded Jebavy and Middelkoop battled past second seeds Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos 7-6(4), 1-6, 10-8 on Friday in a rematch of the 2017 championship match, advancing to the final after 76 minutes. Last season, the clash was far more straightforward, with the victors triumphing in straight sets.

But this time around, the Czech-Dutch duo won 12 fewer points than its opponents. However, Jebavy and Middelkoop landed eight of their nine first serves in the Match Tie-break to pressure the Chilean-Argentine team, winning five of the last six points to clinch the victory. Jebavy and Middelkoop will next face Max Mirnyi/Philipp Oswald or Matteo Berrettini/Fabio Fognini, who compete Saturday. 

Mirnyi and Oswald, who earned titles in New York and Houston earlier this year, beat home favourites Evgeny Donskoy and Karen Khachanov 7-6(2), 7-6(1) on Friday to reach the last four.

Skupski/Skupski Into Metz Final
Brothers Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski, who triumphed in Montpellier in France earlier this year, have a chance to lift another tour-level trophy in France. The Brits, who are the fourth seeds, beat Austrians Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 in 77 minutes. 

In the final, they will clash against top seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin or third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Andres Molteni.