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.

Santiago Gonzalez & Partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin Claim Paris Masters Men’s Doubles Title

Santiago Gonzalez is celebrating another title…

The 40-year-old Mexican professional player and his men’s doubles partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin have extended their late-season winning streak to eight to clinch the title at the Paris Masters.

Santiago Gonzalez & Edouard Roger-VasselinThe seventh-seeded duo defeated Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 6-2, 5-7, 10-7 to lift the trophy at the ATP Masters 1000 event in the French capital.

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin converted both break points they earned to claim the victory, holding firm after dropping their first set of the week in the championship match in Paris.

“The set we lost, it’s totally my fault. I did a pretty bad game in the second set, but Santi helped a lot at the changeover,” said home favorite Roger-Vasselin. “[He said] ‘It’s OK, we’re just going to fight every point and enjoy the crowd’. For me it’s super special to win here in Paris, so I’m really thankful to Santi. He played amazing all week, and I’m really happy to win this trophy here.”

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin, who also lifted the trophy in Basel a week ago, defeated the second, third and fourth-seeded pairs en route to their second Masters 1000 crown of the year.

The duo has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, where the pair will enter the prestigious season finale on a high.

“The last two weeks were amazing, ending the year like this and now going to Turin with confidence,” said Gonzalez. “We are happy to win our second Masters title of this year, so we are very pleased about it and hopefully we can keep it going.”

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin are now 51-21 in their first full season together on the ATP Tour.

They became champions in Marseille, Miami and Los Cabos prior to their Basel and Paris triumphs, and will enter Turin in fourth in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.