London Contenders Purcell/Saville Advance In Nur-Sultan
Max Purcell and Luke Saville boosted their hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday at the Astana Open.
The Australians dominated on serve, winning 40 of their 45 service points to defeat Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-4, 6-4 in 69 minutes. Purcell and Saville are currently in ninth position in the FedEx ATP Battle For London. Four teams have already booked their places at The O2 in London, with the remaining four slots still available.
The second seeds are chasing their first ATP Tour team title in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Purcell and Saville’s best team result came at the Australian Open this year, where they reached the championship match (l. to Ram/Salisbury).
The Aussie duo will next face Luke Bambridge and Divij Sharan or Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar for a place in the semi-finals.
Farah/Martin Eliminate Koolhof/Mektic In Vienna
Robert Farah and Fabrice Martin were clinical in crucial moments at the Erste Bank Open on Tuesday. The Colombian-French tandem saved all seven break points they faced and converted both of their break points to earn a 7-5, 6-3 win against Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.
Koolhof and Mektic were attempting to improve their position in the FedEx ATP Battle For London. The US Open finalists entered the tournament in fifth position with 2,145 points. Farah and Martin will face Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals. The Russians dominated their Match Tie-break against fourth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut to earn a 7-6(9), 3-6, 10-2 win.