ATP Finals London: First preliminary decisions in doubles
At the ATP Finals in London, Tuesday brings already the first preliminary decisions in doubles. The group favorites Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot can prevail prematurely and defy their streak in 2019.
by Robert M. Frank
last edit: Nov 12, 2019, 10:48 am
Brazil's Marcelo Melo (ATP 6) and his Polish partner Lukasz Kubot (ATP 5) had each been the number one ATP double world ranking lister about a year and a half ago. Recently, it was not quite as good for the double pairings, which have been a regular winner since 2016. Of six finals on the ATP tour jumped for the duo 2019 only one victory out (in Winston-Salem).
The two-man team set in second behind the Colombian top duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (both ATP 1) in the second Round Robin round on Tuesday prematurely solve the ticket for the semifinals. Melo and Kubot, who once made his first five tournament wins with Austrian Oliver Marach, face South African Raven Klaasen (ATP 11) and Michael Venus (ATP 18) from New Zealand (not before 7pm). The top seed in the group Jonas Bjorkman is the absolute favorite. If after their opening victory against Ivan Dodig (ATP 9) and Filip Polasek (ATP 10) jump out another success, the semi-final would be perfect.
Local hero Salisbury and Ram outsider
Qualifying for the semi-final would give Melo / Kubot, who had already left the group in London last year, a good chance to return to their best times with double-ranked top rankings and ten joint tournament wins in 2017 and 2018.
In addition to the duo with a total of 58 double titles, American Rajeev Ram (ATP 24) and London local hero Joe Salisbury (ATP 23) will face outsiders against Dodig / Polasek in the first double match of the day (1 pm). Who is subject to the first two losers in this game is out of the race early. The winner may hope for a semi-final, in which possibly even the once successful German pair of couples Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies could wait.