Pospisil/Sock Advance To Doubles Final

Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock will have a chance to make it two doubles titles in a row at the BNP Paribas Open.

The No. 6 seeds were a point away from losing at 8-9 in the Match Tie-break, but recovered to beat Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in the semi-finals on Friday. Pospisil is now 9-1 when playing doubles at Indian Wells, while Sock is undefeated in nine outings. As a team, they now own a 6-1 record in 2016.

“We made a slower start than in some of our other matches,” Sock said. “But we decided to switch sides on the return for the second set and for the Match Tie-break, and that helped us get into some more return games. We were able to break early in the second set, which gave us some momentum we were able to ride for the rest of the match.”

The Canadian-American duo lost the only break point of the first set to fall behind, but saved five break points in the second set to force a Match Tie-break. Lopez/Lopez landed 82 per cent of first serves in the second stanza, but did not win a point (0/4) on their second serve.

Pospisil/Sock will be playing for their fifth tour-level title as a team on Saturday against reigning US Open champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. Last year, Pospisil/Sock beat Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in the quarter-finals before defeating Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini in the final.

“[Herbert/Mahut] is one of the more consistent teams on tour,” Pospisil said. “But if we serve well and do what we’ve been doing, we have a shot. Anytime we serve well, we’re a tough team to beat.”

To watch the BNP Paribas Open online, visit TennisTV.com.