Fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares will face Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the men’s double final of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Murray and Soares won eight of the final nine points of the Match Tie-break to beat sixth seeds Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-7 (7-9) 6-2 10-6.
Both teams went on serve until 5-5 in the opening set. Murray and Soares earned a break point chance at deuce at 5-5 30-40, when Rojer missed a half-volley return. Rojer hit an ace at 5-6 to send the first set to to the tie-break. Rojer and Tejau, who had not dropped a set in their previous two matches this week, clinched the first set on their third set point.
The second set started with three holds of serve. Murray and Soares earned three break points, as Rojer made a double fault at 15-30. Soares broke serve to take a 3-1 lead with his overhead. Rojer earned two break-back points with his return. Murray and Soares fended off both break points to open up a 4-1 lead. Rojer and Tecau served to stay in the second set at 5-2. Soares hit a forehand volley to close out the second set with a break after 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Rojer and Tecau earned the first mini-break in the first point of the match tie-break. Murray and Soares pulled the break back a point later to take a 1-3 lead. Both teams went on serve as Rojer and Tecau led 4-5. Soares broke back with a backhand winner to draw level to 5-5. Tecau dropped serve on the 11th point to go down 5-6. Soares won two points to take a 8-5 lead for his team. Murray hit a forehand winner to earn three match points at 9-6. The Brazilian and British players closed out the match 10-6 on their first opportunity to secure their spot in the Cincinnati final.
The British and Brazilian team set up a final against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who beat Phillip Kohlschreiber and Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
Murray clinched eight ATP doubles titles in their career including two tournaments in Acapulco and Washington. Cabal and Farah won their maiden Masters 1000 title in Rome after beating Murray and Soares in the semifinal.
