Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos Advance to Title Match at ATP Finals

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are one win away from the title…

The 37-year-old Spanish professional tennis player and his 38-year-old Argentine professional doubles partner have advanced to the championship match at the the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time together to keep their Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 hopes alive.

Marcel Granollers & Horacio ZeballosGranollers and Zeballos, the tournament’s fifth seeds, overcame Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday after one hour and 20 minutes in Turin.

Granollers and Zeballos are making their fourth appearance together at the year-end event, where they lost in the semifinals in 2020 and 2021.

They’ll look to go all the way on Sunday when they meet defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who defeated fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

“We are very happy,” Granollers said. “It is our third semi-final here at the Finals and we are happy to be in the final this time. We will try to enjoy the match and play our best tennis.”

Granollers and Zeballos are up to third in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings and will end the season in first place if they win the title in Turin. Already-eliminated Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are currently first. Bopanna and Ebden are now out of the race.

“We tried to think that every match was a final because every match was against a great team,” Zeballos said on their run. “We tried to be positive and offensive and it is working so far so we will try the same tomorrow.”

Earlier this season, Granollers and Zeballos clinched the crown at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai. Granollers is chasing his second title at the year-end event having triumphed with Marc Lopez in 2012.

Competing inside the Pala Alpitour, Granollers and Zeballos were comfortable on serve and were clinical on return in crucial moments. They pounced on two inconsistent serving games from Ebden, one in each set, to earn victory.

Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos Advance to ATP Finals Doubles Semifinals

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos remain perfect…

The 37-year-old Spanish professional tennis player and his 38-year-old Argentine professional doubles partner maintained their perfect start at the 2023 ATP Finals with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph against Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni on Thursday in Turin, Italy.

Marcel Granollers & Horacio ZeballosGranollers and Zeballos notched a break in each set to wrap an 84-minute win and ensure they will finish at the top of Red Group with a 3-0 record.

They will now prepare for their third ATP Finals semifinal as a team, having also reached that stage in 2020 (in London) and 2021 (in Turin).

The win also kept alive Granollers and Zeballos’ hopes of clinching the Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 honor for the first time.

The pair is currently fifth in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, but can jump to a first-place finish by lifting the ATP Finals trophy for the first time as a team.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and his doubles partner, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, advanced from Red Group in second position after they saved a match point before downing top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 6-4, 3-6, 15-13 earlier on Thursday.

Santiago González Claims First-Ever Masters 1000 Doubles Title at Miami Open

Santiago González is celebrating a special Sunshine State victory…

The 40-year-old Mexican professional tennis player and his doubles partner Édouard Roger-Vasselin defeated Nicolas Mahut and Austin Krajicek to win 7-6 (4), 7-5 to claim the Miami Open title.

Santiago González With the win, Gonzalez claimed his first Masters 1000 title.

In addition, he has now reached a career high ATP Tour doubles ranking of No. 19 in the world.

“It was my dream, of course, to lift this type of title at 40 years of age, I’m happy, I’m happy to be here today, it’s my son’s birthday, so I’m going to remember this day for the rest of my life, so I’m happy”, said González.

The only time other time Gonzalez competed in a Masters 1000 final was in Indian Wells last year, also with Roger-Vasselin as a partner, losing to John Isner and Jack Sock.

Marcelo Arevalo Becomes First Central American Man to Win Grand Slam Title with French Open Men’s Doubles Victory

Marcelo Arevalo has earned a place in tennis history…

The 31-year-old Salvadoran professional tennis player and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands won the French Open men’s doubles tennis championship by beating Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the U.S. 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the final.

Marcelo Arevalo, Jean-Julien Rojer

According to the International Tennis Federation, Arevalo is the first man from Central America to win a Grand Slam title.

Meanwhile, 41-year-old Rojer is the oldest Grand Slam men’s doubles champion in the Open era. He also won the 2017 US Open title with Horia Tecau.

Arevalo and Rojer were seeded 12th. Dodig and Krajicek were not seeded.

Dodig and Krajicek held three championship points at 6-5 in the second set but were unable to convert any.

Arevalo had previously won five career ATP Tour doubles titles.