Dominic Inglot and Henri Kontinen saved a match point and captured their first ATP World Tour title together on Sunday at the St. Petersburg Open. The Brit and Fin improved to a perfect 4-0 together by prevailing against German Andre Begemann and Indian Leander Paes 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 to win the ATP World Tour 250 doubles crown.

The comeback in the final marked the third match of the tournament in which Inglot/Kontinen fought back from a set down. They cut their margins especially close against Begemann/Paes, who had not dropped a set before Sunday and were playing in their second ATP World Tour final of the season after falling at the Winston-Salem Open in August to Kontinen and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Begemann/Paes held a match point at 9-8 in the match tie-break and appeared to have won the final before Inglot/Kontinen challenged an out call. The call was overturned and the point was replayed. Defending a match point for a second time, Inglot/Kontinen took no chances as Kontinen smashed a forehand overhead that landed well inside the lines. A few minutes later, he delivered a service winner to give them their first team title.

Kontinen, who won the St. Petersburg Open title last season with Treat Huey, becomes the first player to win back-to-back doubles titles in St. Petersburg since Andrei Olhovskiy, who won titles in 1996 with Yevgeny Kafelnikov and in 1997 with Brett Steven. The 26-year-old Kontinen has now won five ATP World Tour doubles titles this season and 11 for his career.

Inglot claims his second ATP World Tour title of the season after winning in Nottingham with Canadian Daniel Nestor. The 30-year-old Brit now has six for his career. He and Kontinen will receive 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split $49,660.

Paes/Begemann were going for their first ATP World Tour title together. Begemann falls to 4-5 in ATP World Tour doubles finals. Paes was trying to win an ATP World Tour doubles title for the 20^th consecutive year. The 43 year old, who is now 55-41 in doubles finals, has won at least one ATP World Tour doubles title since 1997. He and Begemann will receive 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split $26,110.

Lucas Pouille is a man on a mission in 2016 and the 22-year-old will look to add a first ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the Moselle Open.

Pouille is set to face top seed Dominic Thiem in the Metz final after dispatching 2014 champion David Goffin 7-6(6), 6-1 on Saturday. He punctuated the one-hour and 21-minute victory with an emphatic forehand pass at the net on his first match point. The third seed, who fired 32 winners, crashed the net often in claiming 12 of 14 points when coming forward.

Pouille enters his second ATP World Tour final in fine form following a quarter-final run at the US Open. Runner-up in Bucharest (l. to Verdasco) earlier this year, he is hoping to extend France’s dominance at the indoor hard-court event. A Frenchman has now reached the final in eight of the past nine years, claiming six of the past seven titles.

World No. 18 Pouille, who earned his sixth victory over a Top 15 opponent in beating Goffin, boosted his chances of qualifying for the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Currently at No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, he is looking to make his debut at The O2 in London.

“I had chances to go up two breaks and maybe win the first set 6-1 or 6-2, but he found a way to come back,” said Pouille. “I held strong in the tie-break, then started to really play freely in the second set. I’m feeling good physically on the court after my US Open run. Quicker than before.” 

Goffin, meanwhile, suffered his first defeat in Metz after reeling off seven straight victories in the French city. The Belgian had his chances to close out the first set, but was unable to take his lone set point at 6-5 in the tie-break. He remains in search of his first victory against Pouille, falling to 0-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Pouille and Thiem will face off for the second time on Sunday, with the Frenchman claiming their lone encounter at last year’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

Pavic/Venus Reach Seventh Final Of Season
Mate Pavic and Michael Venus advanced to their seventh ATP World Tour final of the 2016 season, downing Colin Fleming and Scott Lipsky 7-6(4), 6-1 on Saturday in Metz. The Croatian and the Kiwi are looking to claim their third title on French indoor hard courts this year, having won in Montpellier and Marseille. They also notched titles in Auckland and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Pavic and Venus will face Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos in Sunday’s final, in a rematch of the Gstaad title match.

Stan Wawrinka will try to win a career-best fifth ATP World Tour title of the season on Sunday when he faces #NextGen player Alexander Zverev in the St. Petersburg Open final. The top seed advanced to his fifth final of the year and 25^th of his career by beating Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(8), 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes on Saturday.

The Swiss saved two set points in the first set before claiming the 18-point tie-break. He broke to start the second set and again at 4-2 to take his 10^th victory in a row. Wawrinka also improved to a perfect 8-0 in sets in St. Petersburg.

Both players fought for every big point in the semi-final. Wawrinka saved all three break points; Bautista Agut erased seven of nine faced.

Last season, Wawrinka also won four titles but never earned the chance to go for a fifth. He’ll arrive confident on Sunday. He’s 11-0 in his past 11 finals, dating back to his 2014 title in Chennai (d. Roger-Vasselin). The last time Wawrinka lost in a final was more than three years ago: ‘s-Hertogenbosch in June 2013 against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

Zverev, however, also hasn’t lost a set in St. Petersburg. The 6’6”, 19 year old will be going for his first title and will be playing in the third final of his season and career. The two will be meeting for the first time.

With the top four seeds in the semi-finals of an ATP World Tour event for the first time in 2016, a pair of enticing match-ups were on tap on Saturday at the Moselle Open.

Top seed Dominic Thiem kicked off proceedings in Metz with a dramatic rally to overcome two-time champion Gilles Simon 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. The Austrian found himself with his back against the wall with Simon serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but he would not be denied his spot in the final. Thiem broke back with a massive down-the-line forehand and secured another break at 6-5 to force a decider with a cross-court backhand winner.

Thiem continued to apply pressure on Simon’s serve in the third set and despite failing to break from 0/40 at 2-1, he would claim the decisive lead four games later when the Frenchman sent a backhand long. The World No. 10 fired 38 winners and took 16 of 25 net points to prevail after two hours and 18 minutes. He is now a staggering 21-1 in deciding sets this year.

“I expected a very hard match,” said Thiem. “We always have long rallies. If he played one more good game at 5-4, the match is finished.

“It’s a dream to play in six finals. I never expected it. It’s always something really special.” 

Thiem, who is No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, continued his push to qualify for the season finale for the first time, as he advances to his sixth ATP World Tour final of the season. Having already won on the clay of Buenos Aires and Nice, outdoor hard courts of Acapulco and grass of Stuttgart, he is seeking his first title on indoor hard this week. The Austrian awaits home hope Lucas Pouille on Sunday.

Simon, a two-time champion (2010, ’13) in Metz, had won 14 of his past 15 matches in the French city entering Saturday. He was appearing in his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the season.

Marcos Baghdatis attended the draw ceremony for the inaugural Chengdu Open on Saturday. The historic Chinese city, capital of Sichuan province, will host an ATP World Tour event for the first time. The state-of-the-art venue in Chengdu boasts a centre court capacity of 6000, two additional show courts with 2000 seats each, and a total of 20 hard courts and 12 indoor courts. Main draw action at the ATP World Tour 250 event will kick off on Monday.

“[Chengdu] is a great city and I am happy to be here,” Baghdatis said. “The environment is very beautiful here, the facilities are great and I am excited to get my tournament underway.”

The luck of the draw did Baghdatis no favours, as the Cypriot will face Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in his opening match. Carreno Busta, No. 39 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is just three spots below Baghdatis and recently won his maiden ATP World Tour title on the hard courts of Winston-Salem.

“He’s a very tough opponent to play against in the first round,” Baghdatis said. “He won a title not too long ago so he will be confident.”

The top seeds for the first-year event are Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios, Grigor Dimitrov and Feliciano Lopez. All four players will receive first-round byes.

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