DODIG/MELO DOUBLES TEAMS QUALIFY FOR BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

Written by: Staff on 19th October 2015

DODIG/MELO DOUBLES TEAMS QUALIFY FOR BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS |

Only two spots remain in Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London

Just two spots remain in the eight-team doubles field at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, as the duos of Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, Pierre-Hughes Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini and Jamie Murray/John Peers have secured their places in the prestigious season finale, to be held at The O2 in London Nov. 15-22. The world’s biggest indoor tennis tournament will feature the world’s best eight singles players and doubles teams.

Two teams had already qualified: World No. 1 Bob and Mike Bryan and Wimbledon champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

Melo is coming off back-to-back titles in Tokyo and Shanghai with South African Raven Klaasen. The Brazilian is now 17-18 in career finals (4-1 this season). Partnering with Dodig, he won titles in Acapulco and at Roland Garros, while reaching the final in Washington. Melo is 2-2 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals.

Dodig, meanwhile, is trying to improve his singles ranking (from No. 127) and has played four Challengers since last month. He lost in the semi-finals in a third set tie-break in Rennes, France (l. to Malek Jaziri) on Saturday.

In September, the all-French tandem of Herbert/Mahut clinched their first Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open (d. Murray/Peers). Herbert was 0-4 at the majors prior to partnering Mahut at the 2015 Australian Open, where they reached the final.

Bolelli and Fognini appeared in their fourth final of the season (1-3) at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, where they were runners-up to Melo/Klaasen, and also posted runner-up finishes at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells (l. to Vasek Pospisil/Jack Sock) and Monte-Carlo (l. to Bryan/Bryan) earlier this season. They opened the the year by capturing the Australian Open crown (d. Herbert/Mahut), becoming first Italian duo to win a Grand Slam doubles title since Nicola Pietrangeli and Orlando Sirola lifted the Roland Garros trophy in 1959. They reached semi-finals at Roland Garros (l. to Bryans).

Along with Herbert/Mahut, Murray/Peers — runners-up at both Wimbledon and the US Open — is one of only two teams this season to reach two major doubles finals. They have won 10 of their last 12 Grand Slam matches, and captured titles on the hard courts of Brisbane and clay of Hamburg in 2015.

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than 1.5 million fans to The O2 arena over the past six years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London.

Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/doubles-teams-qualify-for-london )

Topics: Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Bryan Brothers, Doubles tennis, Fabio Fognini, Horia Tecau, Ivan Dodig, Jamie Murray, Jean-Julien Rojer, John Peers, Marcelo Melo, Nicolas Mahut, Pierre-Hughes Herbert, Raven Klaasen, Simone Bolelli, Sports, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

October 19, 2015 at 9:29 am

-@DodigTennis / @marcelomelo83 DOUBLES TEAMS QUALIFY FOR BARCLAYS #ATPWorldTourFinals- http://t.co/ap1YpJR0mE #tennis #Doubles