Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
The doubles field has been halved after six days of play at the Nitto ATP Finals, with the four remaining teams set for semi-final Saturday in Turin.
In an afternoon-session meeting of the Top 2 teams in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski face Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in a rematch of the US Open final, won by Ram/Salisbury. The evening session at the Pala Alpitour will open with Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic taking on Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.
Koolhof/Skupski, who were honoured as the 2022 ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by Pepperstone on Thursday, finished second in the Green Group with a 2-1 record. After a win against Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios in their opening match, a Friday win against Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek sealed their place in the semis. The Dutch-British pair is seeking its eighth ATP Tour title of the 2022 season.
Ram/Salisbury, who spent time as the World No. 1 doubles team this season before being overtaken by their semi-final opponents, were a perfect 3-0 in the Red Group. But the American-British pair still needed to win a set in their final round-robin match to clinch progress to the knockout rounds. In a tense match against Roland Garros champ Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, they claimed the set they required in a second-set tie-break before winning their second Match Tie-break of the week.
The two best doubles teams of the 2022 ATP Tour season have met three times this year, with Ram/Salisbury winning in the Indian Wells quarter-finals and the US Open final — both in two tight sets. Koolhof/Skupski recorded a win via retirement in Dubai after winning a first-set tie-break.
This semi-final matchup is set for 11:30 a.m. CET / 5:30 a.m. ET.
Mektic/Pavic dropped just one set in compiling a 3-0 record in the Green Group, finishing their round-robin campaign with a 7-6(4), 7-6(4) win against Kokkinakis/Kyrgios. The Croatians are seeking their sixth team title of 2022, with the biggest of their current lot coming in Rome. They also reached three finals on the year, including at Wimbledon, where they lost to Aussies Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell in a fifth-set tie-break.
The 33-year-old Mektic is bidding for his second Nitto ATP Finals title after winning the 2020 crown with Koolhof.
Glasspool/Heliovaara clinched their semi-final berth with a statement 6-0, 6-4 win against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos on Thursday. The British-Finnish pair seeks its eighth final and second title of the 2022 season. They have two ATP Tour titles as a team, in Marseille (2021) and Hamburg (2022).
This matchup will open the evening session at the Pala Alputour at 6:30 p.m. CET / 12:30 p.m. ET.
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