By Ricky Dimon
A doubles match that could decide the final spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will take place on Thursday at the Swiss Indoors Basel. Max Mirnyi and Treat Huey, who currently hold the all-important eighth spot in the race to London, will go up against Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the quarterfinals.
Mirnyi and Huey have 3,155 points, almost 400 more than Rojer and Tecau. Should Rojer and Tecau capture the title this week, however, they would stand at 3,180 points and would thus soar past Mirnyi and Huey with only the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris-Bercy remaining on the regular-season schedule.
The Dutch-Romanian duo won it all last year in London and finished 2015 as the No. 1 team in the world, but the 2016 campaign has been a tough one. Rojer and Tecau briefly split up so that Tecau could gel with fellow Romanian Florin Mergea in advance of the Rio Olympics (they ended up winning the silver medal). Tecau has been plagued by a foot injury of late, but he returned in a 6-3, 3-6, 10-3 win over Federico Delbonis and Guido Pella on Monday.
Mirnyi and Huey advanced on Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over the Swiss wild-card team of Marco Chiudinelli and Antoine Bellier. The Belarusian-Filipino pairing did not face a single break point in the entire match. Breaks of serve at 6-5 in the opening set and at 5-4 in the second proved to be decisive for Mirnyi and Huey.
Top 8 as of Wednesday afternoon
1. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut: 7,225 points. This week: not playing.
2. Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares: 7,070 points. This week: Vs. Isner and Lipsky in Vienna first round.
3. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan: 6,070 points. This week: Vs. Thiem and Novak in Vienna first round.
4. Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez: 4,170 points. This week: Vs. Knowle and Melzer in Vienna first round.
5. Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo: 4,130 points. This week: not playing.
6. Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram: 3,690 points. This week: Vs. Lindstedt and Venus in Basel quarterfinals.
7. Henri Kontinen and John Peers: 3,310 points. This week: Vs. Mahut and Roger-Vasselin in Basel first round.
8. Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi: 3,155 points. This week: Basel.
Next 4
9. Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau: 2,770 points. This week: Vs. in Basel quartefinals.
10. Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah: 2,570. This week: Lost in Basel first round.
11. Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin: 2,240 points. This week: Vs. TBD in Vienna quarterfinals.
12. Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin: 2,190 points. This week: not playing.
Topics: 10sballs.com, Atp World Tour, Belarus tennis, Doubles tennis, Max Mirnyi, Ricky Dimon, Swiss Indoors Basel, Tennis News, Treat Huey, World Tour Finals