Rojer/Tecau Claim Basel Crown, Edge Closer To London
Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau moved a step closer to a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals on Sunday, defeating Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka 7-5, 6-3 to claim the Swiss Indoors Basel crown.
The fourth seeds captured their 20th tour-level title as a team after 69 minutes, saving all three break points they faced to take the ATP 500 trophy. Rojer and Tecau improve to 20-7 as a team in tour-level championship matches.
“It is special. We have been coming here for a few years and we enjoyed being here, but we never got to a final here. I made the semis twice, so it was really special to play the first final here and get the title,” said Tecau. “Being the 20th, I didn’t know until after the final but it will be a special place in our memories.”
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Rojer and Tecau add to their ATP Doubles Race To London tally with the win, putting them in pole position to become the sixth team to qualify for The O2 at next week’s Rolex Paris Masters. The Dutch-Romanian duo owns 3,585 points and a 585-point lead over Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who currently occupy the highest position outside the London qualification spots.
Rojer and Tecau level their record in ATP Tour finals this year at 2-2 with their ATP 500 title run. Rojer owns 29 tour-level doubles crowns, while Tecau increases his tally to 37 trophies.
“The difference was the combined experience of Horia and I, he’s 34 and I’m 38” said Rojer. “They are obviously great opponents, very dangerous, they serve well and they obviously play very well.
“We just had to stay focussed and really try to hold our serves so we could maintain some pressure while they were serving… The key to the match was to be very solid and sharp on our serves and I think we managed to do that today.”
Fritz and Opelka were both aiming to lift their first ATP Tour doubles title. The American pairing did not drop a set en route to the championship match.
Rojer and Tecau earn 500 ATP Doubles Ranking points and share €135,160. Fritz and Opelka receive 300 points and split €66,160.