Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus clinched their first title as a team at the Open 13 Provence, defeating fourth seeds Marcus Daniell and Dominic Inglot 6-7(2), 6-3, 10/4 on Sunday.

Competing in their first tour-level final together, Klaasen and Venus battled past their opponents without dropping serve in 82 minutes. It is Klaasen’s 14th ATP World Tour doubles triumph and Venus’ eighth tournament crown. Venus has now won the title in Marseille on two occasions, having previously lifted the trophy with Mate Pavic in 2016.

“It is really exciting [to win our first title],” said Venus. “We have been working hard on the practice court, and every time we have been out there competing, we have felt like we have gotten more comfortable with each other… playing better each week. So we are really excited to get the title here and keep building on it.”

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The first set did not feature a single break point, with both teams holding serve with relative ease to force a tie-break. From there, Daniell and Inglot increased their level to secure two crucial mini-breaks and, with that, the opening set. Klaasen and Venus regrouped in the second set, grabbing the first break of the match before saving a break point in the next game to move ahead 4-1. Two further service holds were enough to take the final to a Match Tie-break.

The momentum had swung in favour of the top seeds, with Daniell and Inglot needing to quickly recover from dropping their first set of the tournament. Klaasen and Venus raced out to an 8/3 lead, and never looked back, clinching the title on their first championship point.

“It was a lot of fun today to play in front of such a big and enthusiastic crowd,” said Klaasen. “I am happy to celebrate our first title together.”

Klaasen and Venus will receive 250 ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €34,980, while Daniell and Inglot collect 150 points and a share of €18,390.

Did You Know?
Klaasen and Venus’ title run in Marseille was just their fourth tournament together. The two began their partnership at the ASB Classic in Auckland last month.

Before the 2018 season, Ilya Ivashka had never competed in an ATP World Tour main draw. But this week, the 23-year-old has played the best tennis of his career to advance to the semi-finals of the Open 13 Provence in Marseille. The World No. 193 not only qualified, but ousted Laslo Djere, was leading second seed Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 1-1 when the Swiss retired due to a knee injury, and then held on to defeat home favourite Nicolas Mahut in three sets on Friday evening.

“It’s a very good feeling,” Ivashka told ATPWorldTour.com after beating Mahut in the quarter-finals. “It was a tough match today and I’m happy that I’m in the semi-finals and that I’ll play tomorrow.”

What makes his run even more special is that Ivashka is the first Belarusian to make the semi-finals of an ATP World Tour event since Max Mirnyi at 2005 Nottingham — better yet, it is only the third tour-level event of his career (2016 US Open, 2018 Pune).

“It means a lot because I didn’t know that he was the last player,” Ivashka said of Mirnyi. “I knew that he won the title in Rotterdam [in 2003]. I knew he was the last one who won an ATP [World Tour] title, but I didn’t know about the semi-finals. It’s a great feeling and I enjoy representing my country and I’m very proud of that.”

In fact, 11 of the right-hander’s 17 tour-level matches have come in Davis Cup competition for Belarus. However, Ivashka has been training in Barcelona, Spain for more than a year. Why did he make the decision to work on his game away from home?

“It’s quite tough to say, but it was very good conditions for me,” Ivashka said. “I had a coach there who I really liked to work with and I decided to go there.”

But last November, the Belarusian made a coaching change and began working with former World No. 230 Jose Checa-Calvo. And while it would have been tough to envision such a massive success this quickly, the semi-finalist is not shocked.

“I was not thinking about this, but maybe I would believe [in a big result] because I’m working really hard and I have a lot of goals,” said Ivashka, who captured his lone ATP Challenger Tour title last June in Fergana, Uzbekistan. “So maybe I would believe it, but not this soon.

“It’s a great feeling because before I didn’t play a lot of ATPs… I didn’t have a lot of experience, but now it feels good to be here and win matches here, so I really enjoy it.”

Ivashka is not done yet, as he looks to spring another upset on Saturday against third seed and recent Open Sud de France winner Lucas Pouille. 

“I just go day-by-day and I try to work hard every day, do my routines and it helps me to be focused,” Ivashka said. “Every day is another day and I need to keep working and keep playing.”

Karen Khachanov reached his second ATP World Tour final after beating Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2 at the Open 13 Provence on Saturday.

The World No. 47, competing in his first semi-final of 2018, looked in great form throughout the 74-minute contest, winning 90 per cent of first serve points (26/29) to reach the championship match. Khachanov improved to a 2-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record over the Czech No. 1, after winning their only previous encounter last season at Roland Garros.

The ninth seed will face home favourite Lucas Pouille or qualifier Ilya Ivashka in Sunday’s final. Khachanov won his only previous final on tour at the 2016 Chengdu Open (d. Ramos-Vinolas).

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Khachanov proved a constant threat on the Berdych serve in the first set, creating 10 break point opportunities and converting on two occasions. The Russian played well under pressure on his own delivery, saving all three break points he faced to gain a one-set advantage over the 2013 finalist.

The pattern continued in set two, as the 21-year-old controlled the set with five aces and a 100 per cent success rate on his first serve (15/15). Two further breaks of serve sealed the win for the Russian No. 2 who will now wait to see if it is Pouille or Ivashka across the net in the final.

Did You Know?
Khachanov will be aiming to become just the sixth non-French winner in 13 years in Sunday’s Open 13 Provence final. French players have accounted for seven of the past 12 tournament wins.