Ram/Salisbury Ride Tie-break Tension To Turin SF Berth

Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury overcame a high-energy performance from Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer on Thursday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where the seconds seeds rallied to a 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-5 victory to reach the semi-finals.

Arevalo and Rojer made a fast start at the Pala Alpitour, where they needed a straight-sets victory to pip Ram and Salisbury to a semi-final spot. They clinched the only break of serve in the match in the fourth game to take the opening set but could not match Ram and Salisbury’s consistency in the second-set tie-break as the eight-time tour-level titlists levelled the match and simultaneously confirmed their progression to the semi-finals.

“It was pretty tense,” Ram said. “It is not often that you are in those kind of situations where you just need to win a set to advance. I think we did a really good job handling it and got better as the match went on.”

With victory in the Red Group encounter still at stake in the Match Tie-break, it was Ram and Salisbury who took charge as they opened what proved to be an unassailable 6/1 lead in rapid time, eventually securing victory in one hour, 42 minutes.

“There was a lot of pressure,” Salisbury said. “In some ways it is almost better that you know you have to win the match. Then you just go out and win. I thought they played really well. We lost the first set. But we knew we had to get back at it. We weren’t playing our best tennis, but we fought hard and we are happy with how we managed to get through it.”

The 2021 finalists Ram and Salisbury are seeking their fourth tour-level title of the season at the prestigious season finale in Italy. The American-British duo were the champions in Monte Carlo, Cincinnati and at the US Open this year, and the pair now holds a 35-14 record on the season.