Mektic/Pavic First Team To Qualify For 2021 Nitto ATP Finals
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic have become the first doubles team to qualify for the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 14-21 November at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
The Croatians booked their spots at the season finale on Tuesday with a 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-4 quarter-final victory over Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot at The Championships, Wimbledon.
Mektic and Pavic have been red hot in 2021, in their first season as a team, winning seven titles and compiling a 46-5 match record.
They have lifted trophies this year at three ATP Masters 1000s — the Miami Open presented by Itau and the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (d. Evans/Skupski both times), plus the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (d. Ram/Salisbury). Mektic and Pavic also won one ATP 500 title at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (d. Krawietz/Tecau) and three at ATP 250 events — the Antalya Open (d. Dodig/Polasek), Murray River Open in Melbourne (d. Chardy/Martin), Viking International Eastbourne (d. Ram/Salisbury).
Mektic and Pavic also finished as runners up at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Granollers/Zeballos) and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (l. to Cabal/Farah).
Individually, Mektic has competed at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2018 (w/Peya) and last year the 32-year-old clinched the trophy with Wesley Koolhof at The O2 in London (d. Melzer/Roger-Vasselin). Pavic, 28, has qualified on three previous occasions, featuring in the round-robin stages in 2017-18 (w/Marach) and 2020 (w/Soares).