Melo/Kubot Sprint Into Vienna Final
Top seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo found themselves in familiar territory on Saturday at the Erste Bank Open, defeating third seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-4 to reach their second final in Vienna.
The 2015 champions (d. Murray/Peers) haven't dropped a set en route to their sixth ATP Tour doubles final of the season. They've won 16 of their past 19 matches, taking the title at the Winston-Salem Open (d. Monroe/Sandgren) and finishing runner-up at the Rolex Shanghai Masters (l. to Pavic/Soares) and China Open (l. to Dodig/Polasek).
Kubot/Melo will play fourth seeds Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury in the championship match. Salisbury prevailed here last year with Neal Skupski (d. M. Bryan/Roger-Vasselin).
Despite the loss, Herbert/Mahut secured their team berth at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals for the fifth successive year. The reigning Australian Open champions (d. Kontinen/Peers) qualified in accordance to the Grand Slam rule after Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies clinched their spot at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.
Trailing by a set and 0-3, fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau fought back at the Swiss Indoors Basel to win their semi-final against Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 10-5. Rojer/Tecau are aiming for their second ATP Tour doubles title of the year after prevailing in May at the Mutua Madrid Open (d. Schwartzman/Thiem).
Awaiting them in the final are Taylor Fritz/Reilly Opelka, who continued their dream run with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Santiago Gonzalez/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. They're both seeking their maiden ATP Tour doubles crown and Opelka is appearing in his first tour-level doubles final.