Dodig/Krajicek Save Championship Point, Clinch Rotterdam Crown

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek capped a week of tie-break tension with a thrilling championship match victory on Sunday afternoon at the ABN AMRO Open, where the third seeds downed Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-6(5), 2-6, 12-10 to claim their first title of 2023.

Dodig and Krajicek faced a championship point at 9/10 in the Match Tie-break but reeled off three straight points to clinch their fourth ATP Tour title as a team. Earlier, they had also rallied from 3-5 in the opening set, which featured six service breaks.

The Croatian-American duo was frequently forced to dig deep during its title run at the indoor hard-court ATP 500. Dodig and Krajiceck prevailed in four tie-breaks and two Match Tie-breaks across their four matches at the Rotterdam Ahoy, where they were competing for the first time as a team.

Bopanna and Ebden converted five of eight break points in the final but were left to rue missed chances at key moments in the one-hour, 42-minute encounter. The Indian-Australian pair let slip two set points in the 10th game of the first set before also missing their chance to clinch victory in the Match Tie-break.

Since becoming a full-time partnership last April, Dodig and Krajicek have lifted tour-level titles in Lyon, Naples, Basel and now Rotterdam, while they also competed at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals. Sunday’s triumph was Dodig’s second in Rotterdam, after he also lifted the trophy there in 2017 alongside Marcel Granollers.