Crowd favourites Granollers/Zeballos hold firm for Madrid final spot

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos maintained their perfect run at the Mutua Madrid Open with a hard-earned semi-final triumph on Friday afternoon.

The fifth-seeded duo, which lifted the trophy at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 in 2021, overcame third seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 7-6(6), 7-5 at the Caja Magica. Granollers and Zeballos won 82 per cent (45/55) of points behind first serves, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to improve their Lexus ATP Head2Head record against Krawietz and Puetz to 3-0.

Yet to drop a set this week in Madrid, home favourite Granollers and his partner Zeballos will take on top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic in Saturday’s championship match as they bid to lift their seventh Masters 1000 crown as a team.

Arevalo and Pavic edged Christian Harrison and Evan King 6-7(8), 7-5, 10-6 to seal their spot in the final. The joint No. 1s in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings, Arevalo and Pavic leapfrogged Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten to take first place in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings as a result of their semi-final win.