Jeremy Chardy and Henri Kontinen completed a dream debut week on Sunday, beating Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 7-6(5), 7-6(4) to lift their first team title at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

“[Partnering with Jeremy] was pretty last minute,” said Kontinen. “A few days before [the tournament], I was just glad he said yes to my text message and here we are.”

Chardy and Kontinen won 83 per cent of first-serve points (38/46) and saved five of six break points to triumph after one hour and 40 minutes. The French-Finnish partnership served for the first set at 5-3 and failed to convert a set point at 5-4, but eventually took a one-set lead in the tie-break. After saving two break points at 3-4 (30/40) in the second set, Chardy and Kontinen claimed five straight points from 2/4 down in the second-set tie-break to clinch the title.

More than two years after claiming his fourth tour-level doubles title at the 2017 Qatar ExxonMobil Open (w/F. Martin), Chardy adds a fifth title to his collection. Kontinen, who reached his second Australian Open final (w/Peers) last month, improves to 22-5 in tour-level championship matches.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Chardy. “[Henri] is my friend. To win with him means a lot to me. We played really good and he taught me a lot during the week, so it was really good to play with him.”

Rojer and Tecau were aiming to capture their 19th crown in their 24th tour-level final as a team (18-6). The Dutch-Romanian tandem drops to 1-2 in Rotterdam finals, having also finished as runner-up in 2014 (l. to Llodra/Mahut) before lifting the trophy in 2015 (d. Murray/Peers).

Chardy and Kontinen earn 500 ATP Doubles Ranking points and share €127,270 in prize money. Rojer and Tecau gain 300 points and split €62,300.

Did You Know?
Chardy and Kontinen required Match Tie-breaks in each of their three contests en route to the final.

Reilly Opelka displayed unwavering mental toughness and big hitting under pressure on Saturday at the New York Open. The 21-year-old American saved six match points in the second-set tie-break to edge top seed John Isner 6-7(10), 7-6(14), 7-6(4) and reach his first ATP Tour final.

Isner and Opelka broke the ATP Tour record for combined aces in a three-set match (81), with 43 aces for Opelka and 38 for Isner. They shattered the previous record set by Nick Kyrgios and Ryan Harrison (71) this past month in Brisbane, with 44 aces for Kyrgios and 27 for Harrison.

Opelka improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Isner to 2-1 and has won their past two matches, including a first-round victory at this year’s Australian Open for his first Grand Slam main draw win. The pair hit a combined 87 aces in their Melbourne clash (47 for Isner, 40 for Opelka), which saw Opelka win in four tie-breaks. They have now played seven straight tie-breaks, with each man earning one service break each in those seven sets.

“Both of us were serving ridiculously well, so it was always going to come down to that,” said Isner. “Essentially, heads I win, tails I lose, and it landed on tails.”

World No. 89 Opelka will face qualifier Brayden Schnur for the title after the Canadian fought off five set points in the opening set to defeat sixth seed Sam Querrey 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3. Schnur also saved match points this week, erasing two in his second-round victory over third seed Steve Johnson.

Neither Isner nor Opelka faced a break point in the opening set. In the tie-break, Isner made eight of nine first-serves and saved set points down 5/6 and 7/8. With Opelka serving at 8/9, Isner claimed the only mini-break of the tie-break with a strong approach to Opelka’s backhand and a solid smash to wrap up the set.

The second set also progressed to a tie-break without any break points. Opelka trailed 4/6, staving off his first match point on Isner’s serve with a cracking down-the-line backhand. The 21-year-old erased more match points with clutch hitting at 7/8, 9/10, 11/12 and 13/14. Isner saved the first four set points against him with aces, but serving at 14/15, Opelka rifled a forehand passing shot winner on the run to level the match.

Isner and Opelka earned their first break points of the match in the second and third games of the deciding set, but moved into a final-set tie-break without any breaks of serve. Isner pushed a forehand passing shot just wide at 3/4 and the slight opening was all Opelka needed. The 21-year-old closed out the contest on his first match point and pumped his fist in celebration.

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau are back to top form at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. After losing their first three matches of 2019, they reached the final in Rotterdam on Saturday by outlasting Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 3-6, 6-2, 10-7.

Awaiting them in the championship match are Jeremy Chardy and Henri Kontinen, who also rallied from a set down to defeat fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Nikola Mektic 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-6.

Shortly after completing their grueling singles semi-final at the Argentina Open, Diego Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem returned to Court Guillermo Vilas and recorded a 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 semi-final win over Spaniards Jaume Munar and Albert Ramos-Vinolas. They’ll play top seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina for the title. Thiem and Schwartzman are both looking for their first ATP Tour doubles title.

At the New York Open, German pair Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies reached their first ATP Tour final by defeating fourth seeds Robert Lindstedt and Tim Puetz 6-2, 6-4. Next up for them is the winner of the other semi-final featuring French duo Adrian Mannarino and Hugo Nys against Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan.

Get the details on the biggest week of Brayden Schnur’s career as the World No. 154 in the ATP Rankings goes from qualifying alternate to his first ATP Tour final at the New York Open.

• On Sunday, Brayden Schnur defeated 17-year-old Long Island native Cannon Kingsley in the opening round of qualifying.

• On Monday, he reached a career-high No. 154 in the ATP Rankings and beat Alexei Popyrin to qualify.

• On Tuesday, he earned the first ATP Tour win of his career over countryman and Columbia University sophomore Jack Mingjie Lin.

• On Wednesday, he rallied from 5-2 down in the third set and saved two match points to beat No. 3 seed Steve Johnson.

• On Thursday, he went to sleep at 3:30 am after his win over Johnson finished Wednesday at 11:37 pm.

• On Friday, he hit 24 aces and held in all 18 of his service games to defeat Paolo Lorenzi 6-7(7) 7-6(5) 7-5.

• On Saturday, he saved five set points in the first set of 7-6(7) 4-6 6-3 victory over No. 6 seed Sam Querrey.

• In Sunday’s final, he bids to become the second player in as many weeks to earn his first win and title at the same event (Juan Ignacio Londero at Cordoba).

• In Monday’s ATP Rankings, he will break into the Top 100 if he wins the title.

– Research from Joshua Rey

Brayden Schnur’s best week ever got even better on Saturday at the New York Open. Having never won an ATP Tour main draw match before this week, the Canadian qualifier saved five set points in the opening set against sixth seed Sam Querrey and reached the final with a 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3 victory over the American.

Schnur, the final alternate into the qualifying draw, saved two match points in his second-round win over third seed Steve Johnson and won the longest match of the tournament in his quarter-final against Paolo Lorenzi (2 hr, 39 min). Currently at a career-high No. 154 in the ATP Rankings, he’ll crack the Top 100 on Monday if he takes the title.

The Canadian erased four set points on his serve at 4-5 in the first set and another at 5-6. Schnur couldn’t convert on set point opportunities in the tie-break at 6/5 and 7/6, but a pair of forehand errors from Querrey at 7/7 gave him the early advantage.

The qualifier had a break point opportunity to lead 4-0 in the second set, but the occasion appeared to overwhelm him and his shots began landing shorter. Querrey took advantage to level the match, but Schnur regrouped with an early break to lead 2-0 in the deciding set. The slight advantage was all he needed. Schnur converted on his first match point with a strong serve and closed the contest after one hour and 54 minutes.

Schnur will take on the winner of the all-American clash between top seed John Isner and Reilly Opelka. He has not faced either player before.

More than 20 months after reaching his 28th tour-level final at Roland Garros in 2017, Stan Wawrinka defeated Kei Nishikori 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament to move into his 29th championship match on Saturday.

The 33-year-old, who required two left knee surgeries in August 2017, landed 35 winners, including eight aces, to triumph after two hours and 13 minutes. Wawrinka will be aiming to capture his second title in Rotterdam after beating Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych in back-to-back matches to lift the trophy in 2015.

The three-time Grand Slam champion will meet Gael Monfils in Sunday’s final. Wawrinka leads Monfils 3-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but the pair have met just once in the past eight years, at 2017 Roland Garros, with the Swiss triumphing in straight sets.  

Wawrinka raced into a 2-0 lead at the Ahoy Rotterdam, claiming the opening break of the match with a crafty short return and a well-struck forehand passing shot down the line. The Swiss soon doubled his advantage, dominating rallies with his forehand before moving up the court to rush his opponent into errors. Despite surrendering one break of serve, Wawrinka broke for a third time with his ninth winner, an angled crosscourt backhand, to take the opening set after 37 minutes.

Nishikori responded emphatically in the second set, moving into a 4-0 lead of his own after finding success attacking Wawrinka’s backhand in crucial moments. Wawrinka held firm, recovering one of the two breaks after finding further success bringing Nishikori to the net off his return. But the Japanese No. 1 soon levelled the match, holding serve to love at 5-4 with a driven cross-court backhand winner.

In a tense third set, both men held serve with relative ease until Nishikori served to stay in the match at 4-5. After ripping a forehand winner to complete an impressive service hold in the previous game, Wawrinka continued to dictate points with his forehand. From 30/30, the Swiss fired his 34th and 35th winners, both on his forehand side, to book his place in the championship match.

Nishikori was bidding to reach his second ATP Tour final of the season, following his title run at the Brisbane International (d. Medvedev) last month. The Japanese No. 1 overcame Medvedev in three sets to snap a nine-match losing streak in tour-level championship matches.

Did You Know?
This was only the third tour-level semi-final Wawrinka has contested since reaching the 2017 Roland Garros final (l. to Nadal). The Swiss reached two semi-finals in 2018, falling to Mirza Basic in Sofia and Martin Klizan in St. Petersburg.