Glasspool/Heliovaara Seal SF Spot In Turin

Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara booked their spot in the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals Thursday when they moved past Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-0, 6-4 in Turin.

The sixth seeds produced a ruthless performance from the first to last point to light up the Pala Alpitour. They crushed returns, demonstrated good touch around the net and held their nerves at key moments, saving all five break points they faced to triumph after 59 minutes.

“It feels very, very, very good,” Heliovaara said when asked about qualifying for the semi-finals. “You saw the celebrations at the end. We played an amazing match. I don’t think we could have played any better in the first set and then we kept going. What a dream.”

“It just shows how much hard work we have put in,” Glasspool said. “It is really nice to have it pay off as it doesn’t always pay off. it is amazing to be able to play our best stuff on the biggest stage.”

The British-Finnish pair finishes the round-robin stage holding a 2-1 record. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will face Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer in the final Red Group doubles match on Thursday evening.

Ram and Salisbury are 2-0 through their opening two matches and will qualify if they win a set against Arevalo and Rojer. However, if Salvadoran-Dutch team triumph in straight sets, Ram and Salisbury will be out at the expense of Arevalo and Rojer.

The sixth seeds Glasspool and Heliovaara are making their debut this week in Turin. They have enjoyed a consistent year on Tour, highlighted by winning their maiden ATP 500 title in Hamburg in July.

Glasspool and Heliovaara are the second team to qualify for the last four, joining Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.