Top seeds Arevalo & Pavic reach Indian Wells doubles final

Croatian Mate Pavic has joined a select group of doubles legends by teaming with Marcelo Arevalo to reach the BNP Paribas Open final. The World No. 1 duo defeated wild card Christian Harrison and Evan King 6-3, 6-4 to send Pavic into his ninth different ATP Masters Final.

Just five other players have completed the set of Masters 1000 finals: Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan, Max Mirnyi, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna. Pavic has a 6-5 record in Masters 1000 finals.

Seeking their first title of the season, Arevalo and Pavic won 82 per cent of first serves and saved three of the four break points they faced on Friday. They have not dropped a set en route to the championship match.

In the final they will play Sebastian Korda and Jordan Thompson, who rallied from a set down to defeat alternate team Fernando Romboli and John-Patrick Smith.

Korda came up clutch when the match hung in the balance, crushing two clean forehand winners against the Smith serve when trailing 7-8 in the match tie-break. He then dropped an unreturned first serve to clinch the 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 victory.

Korda and Thompson are 9-1 in three tournaments as a team. Last year they won the ATP Masters 1000 title in Madrid.