Finnish/Aussie lift their third Masters 1000 trophy together
Put Henri Kontinen and John Peers in a final together, and odds are that they’ll find a way to win.
That proved true on Sunday, despite missing out on four championship points in the second-set tie-break, as the second seeds recovered to beat Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 6-2, 6-7(7), 10-6 to lift the Rogers Cup trophy, winning their 10th consecutive tour-level final.
“We try to save the best for last each tournament and try to enjoy it and keep rolling with it,” Peers said.
The two-time reigning Nitto ATP Finals champions have now captured three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles together, and 13 at tour-level (13-1). Kontinen owns 21 tour-level trophies (21-4), while Peers has 19 (19-11).
But for a moment, it appeared that their streak might come to an end. Kontinen and Peers led 6/3 in the second-set tie-break. And on their third chance to close it out, while up 6/5, Kontinen had a volley right on top of the net to clinch the title, but missed. In a flash, they were forced into a Match Tie-break.
But Kontinen made up for his mishap, earning the decisive mini-break at 6/6 with a terrific crosscourt forehand return. And then on the team’s fifth championship point, he played terrific defence off a series of overheads before Klaasen missed a forehand approach shot long.
“Unfortunately, [we] couldn’t close it in two, but maybe it’s a little sweeter even this way since we almost lost it there,” Kontinen said. “But I think we played great the first two sets and even in the Match Tie-break, so pretty happy with that.”
Kontinen and Peers earned their 100th tour-level match win together in the quarter-finals against Sam Querrey and Rajeev Ram, and then battled past the in-form Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya, who are fourth in the ATP Doubles Race To London, to reach the final. Kontinen/Peers were 13th in the Race at the beginning of the week, but the 1,000 ATP Doubles Rankings points they earn will propel them to eighth on Monday, as they try to make the Nitto ATP Finals at The O2 in London once again. They also will split $316,000.
It was still a good week for Klaasen and Venus, who were pursuing their maiden Masters 1000 triumph as a team. The pair will climb to fifth in the Race thanks to the 600 points they earn. They also will share $154,710 in prize money
https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/toronto-2018-doubles-final
