Kontinen/Peers Earn Chance To Retain Title

There is little doubt as to who the two best doubles teams on the ATP World Tour have been this season. So it is only fitting that the top two seeds at the Nitto ATP Finals will battle for the title at the season finale. 

After a tight opening set, Henri Kontinen and John Peers used the momentum they gained from blitzing Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in a tie-break to steamroll into their second consecutive final at The O2, defeating the fourth seeds in the semi-finals, 7-6(2), 6-2, in 78 minutes. 

The defending champions will get a crack at winning the title at The O2 once again on Sunday against top-seeded Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who will finish the year atop the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings.

Murray and Soares did well to save four consecutive break points while down 5-6 against the second seeds in the first set, but they could not hold off the second seeds forever. Kontinen and Peers dominated the ensuing tie-break, striking two stunning returns at 3/2 and 4/2 to take control. They won the final six points of the opener and broke immediately in the second set before pulling away.

Kontinen and Peers simply proved too powerful, hitting through their opponents’ rock-solid defences at net, and never faltering on serve. The Finnish-Australian duo dropped just three points on their first serve in the match, and only faced one break point, which they saved. While Murray and Soares made an effort to bring energy to their net play, the Scottish-Brazilian team was never able to get into return points because of the second seeds’ huge serving. And when they did manage to put balls in play, volleys were quickly swatted away. 

The final will be the fifth FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between Kontinen/Peers and Melo/Kubot this season, with Kontinen and Peers leading 3-1. They earned all three of their victories in straight sets, and suffered their only loss 9-7 in the fifth set of the Wimbledon semi-finals.

 Watch Full Match Replays