Melzer & Roger-Vasselin Move To Brink Of London Qualification
Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin are one win away from earning the final spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November.
The eighth seeds beat Rohan Bopanna and Oliver Marach 6-0, 7-6(6) on Friday to reach the Rolex Paris Masters semi-finals. If Melzer and Roger-Vasselin defeat second seeds Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares on Saturday, they will clinch their berth in the season finale.
Earlier in the day, fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo defeated fifth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Marcelo Melo 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-8 to claim the seventh team spot in London. They will compete in the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year.
Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski began the week in seventh place in the FedEx ATP Battle For London, but they lose to Kubot and Melo on Thursday. That allowed the Polish-Brazilian duo to move into seventh place. Melzer and Roger-Vasselin then bumped the Brits to ninth place on Friday with their triumph.
Kubot and Melo will next play singles stars Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz, who beat seventh seeds John Peers and Michael Venus 4-6, 7-5, 11-9. In other action, Pavic and Soares eliminated sixth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 6-1, 7-6(4).