Kubot/Melo Move One Step Closer; Murray/Soares Reach Shanghai Final

Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo moved to within one match win of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the third straight year after advancing on Friday to the Rolex Shanghai Masters semi-finals. The third seeds knocked out seventh seeds and fellow Nitto ATP Finals contenders Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-7 in one hour and 48 minutes. Kubot and Melo let slip a 5-3 lead in the first set.

Last year’s runners up at The O2 in London are now looking to join Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, who they will play on Saturday in the Shanghai semi-finals, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, and Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, as qualifiers at the 11-18 November season finale. Second seeds Marach and Pavic knocked out eighth seeds Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic 3-6, 6-2, 10-6 in 83 minutes.

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Sixth seeds Murray and Soares, who qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals on Thursday, will contest their fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final on Sunday after sweeping past fifth seeded Colombians Cabal and Farah 6-3, 6-4 in a repeat of the Western & Southern Open final in August. The British/Brazilian team have a 9-7 record in finals.