Fifth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic crowned their first season as a team on the ATP Tour with their maiden title, as they beat Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger Vasselin 6-2 4-6 10-5 after 76 minutes in the the Nitto ATP Finals in London.
Koolhof and Mektic made their debut as a team last January in Adelaide and lost their first two finals at the Open 13 in Marseille and at the US Open before reaching the semifinal at Roland Garros.
Mektic earned the first break of the match with a forehand return winner down the line. The Croatian player hit low returns at 3-1 to get a double break at 3-1. Koolhof and Mektic closed out the opening set with a love service hold.
Melzer and Roger Vasselin got the first break of the second set. They held three service games to clinch the second set 6-4 forcing the final to the Match Tie-Break.
Both teams were tied at 5-5 in the Match Tie-Break before Koolhof and Mektic reeled off five consecutive points to seal the title on the first championship point, as Melzer made a double fault.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling. It’s not just the way to finish this year. This is something to remember throughout the whole life. This is for sure the biggest achievement of my life and of my career. It’s a great way to finish the year and there are a lot of reasons to celebrate now. It’s our first title together. Not bad for a first one. It’s been a great tournament for us”, said Mektic.
Koolhof becomes the fourth Dutch player to win the Nitto ATP Finals title following in the footsteps of two-time champions Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haaruis in 1993 and 1995 and Jean Julien Rojer in 2015. Mektic is the first Croatian player to win the ATP Finals doubles title.
“Paul and Jacco were one of the best, maybe the best doubles team, before the Bryans started playing. I think they achieved so many things and it is always nice when you walk to Centre Court here to see their names on the wall two times and even Jules Rojer is up there. He was always the one, especially in my era, that I looked up against to try to beat him. He was always the number 1 in Holland. It means a lot that I am alongside those three big names in Holland and that I am the last one. It’s a dream come true to have qualified here for this event. We managed to play some very good tennis and made it through the group stage. We won yesterday, played a very good match yesterday. We played the final here today, which is always a dream. It’s very big to win the final of the Nitto ATP Finals and we are extremely happy to have won”, said Koolhof.
Melzer tried to draw positives from this week despite the defeat in the final. Melzer and Roger Vasselin will not be playing together next season.
“It was a hell of a ride. We have been fighting hard since Roland Garros. We played almost every week to get here and then coming to the Nitto ATP Finals is a great achievement. Of course it stings today. It hurts, but in the end we are going to look back at being runnes-up here. The Nitto ATP Finals is the pinnacle of our sport. Every player wants to be part of this event. I was lucky enough to make it three times and I will always look back and cherish this moment”, said Melzer.
