Spanish Duo Clinch Doha Doubles Crown

Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez captured their first ATP World Tour team title on Friday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. It was Marc Lopez’s third Doha crown, following runs to the 2009 and 2011 titles (w/Nadal).

The third-seeded Spaniards defeated fourth seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya 6-4, 6-3 in the 66-minute doubles final on Friday night. They split $64,420 in prize money and earned 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points.

“It’s my third title, but first with Feli. I love playing in Doha,” said Marc Lopez. “Every year I play well here. I will be back for sure.”

Feliciano Lopez said, “It was our first time playing together in a while, but today in the final we played some of our best tennis. Yesterday we played well against Jamie [Murray] and Bruno [Soares] but we really played our best today.”

Almost 12 years on from their lone ATP World Tour team final (2004 Valencia), the Spaniards broke Peya in the first game, but failed to convert three set point opportunities at 5-3 en route to winning the 35-minute set.

Poor volleying by Petzschner saw Peya lose his serve to 30 in the third game of the second set. At 3-2, Marc Lopez recovered from 0/40 by winning four straight points and the Spaniards went on to clinch Petzschner’s serve to 30 for the championship.

Feliciano Lopez captured his first doubles title since 2004 Stockholm (w/Verdasco) and is now 2-7 lifetime in doubles finals, while Marc Lopez is 11-14 overall. They teamed up together this week for the first time since March 2012 at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami.

Petzschner and Peya, who beat World No. 1s Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the semi-finals, were also contesting their second final as a team. In 2008, they finished runners up in Vienna (l. to Mirnyi-A. Ram).

Petzschner is now 6-3 in doubles finals and Peya is 14-21, having lost the 2014 Doha final (w/Soares). They shared $33,860 and add 150 points.

Marach/Martin Into Chennai Final

Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin defeated top seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 4-6, 7-5, 10-5 in the semi-finals of the Aircel Chennai Open on Friday. The No. 3 seeds were down a set and a break, and broke back when Klaasen/Ram served for the match at 5-4 in the second set.

In quarter-final action, Somdev Devvarman and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan won an all-Indian matchup against N. Sriram Balaji and Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 1-6, 10-6. They will play Austin Krajicek and Benoit Paire for a place in the final.