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Mektic/Pavic First Team To Qualify For 2021 Nitto ATP Finals

  • Posted: Jul 06, 2021

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).

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Hurkacz Completes Comeback To End Medvedev's Shot At No. 1

  • Posted: Jul 06, 2021

Hubert Hurkacz completed a comeback on Tuesday afternoon in a rain-interrupted clash against Daniil Medvedev for a place in the quarter-finals at The Championships, Wimbledon.

Resuming at 4-3 in the fourth set, after rain stopped play on Monday evening, the Polish 14th seed continued his ploy of attacking the net and reaped dividends in a 2-6, 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over three hours and two minutes.

“Playing on this unbelievable court, probably the best in the world, with an amazing crowd is really special,” said Hurkacz, in an on-court interview. “Daniil is an unbelievable player. We battled so hard on No. 2 Court. So to win is incredible… I knew I needed to get off to a strong start today and I think I did a pretty good job.”

Having gone 1-6 coming into the grass-court major, following his first ATP Masters 1000 crown at the Miami Open presented by Itau (d. Sinner) on 4 April, Hurkacz has played his way into form at the All England Club. He is the fifth Polish man to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals and will now aim to emulate Jerzy Janowicz, who advanced to the last four in 2013.

The 24-year-old will next challenge sixth-seeded Swiss and eight-time former champion Roger Federer on Wednesday. Federer beat Hurkacz 6-4, 6-4 in their only previous meeting at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. “Roger, what he does, the titles he has won, is a real inspiration,” said Hurkacz. “I will be hoping to get a little bit of support tomorrow.”

Unable to join fellow Russian Karen Khachanov in the Wimbledon semi-finals, Medvedev is now 2-8 lifetime in fifth sets. The 25-year-old had had a shot at rising to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings with a deep run at Wimbledon.

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The match had been suspended due to rain on No. 2 Court at 6:30pm local time Monday. It was switched to No. 1 Court, under a closed roof, due to further bad weather on Tuesday in London.

Hurkacz broke for a 5-3 lead in the fourth set after he struck a smash winner and later hit his eighth ace to wrap up the 40-minute set. While Medvedev had won 84 per cent of his first-service points, double faults started to break into his game.

At 1-1 in the decider, Hurkacz seized his opportunity once more when Medvedev scooped a forehand long. The 31-minute set ended when Medvedev hit a low forehand volley into the net.

“[I] played really bad today,” said Medvedev. “He definitely played really well. I played probably [my] worst two sets since Rome. I will just continue working… Today my best was really low, but I did my best.”

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