Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz beat Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-5 6-4 to move to 2-0 in the Bob Brian Group at the Nitto ATP Finals at the Inalpi Arena in Turin. Krawietz and Puetz booked their spot in the semifinal.
Krawietz and Puetz saved four break points in the first set. Puetz fired two forehand winners before breaking serve with a lob in the 12th game to close out the first set 7-5. Bolelli and Vavaassori won just 67% of their first serve points. Krawietz and Puetz earned the decisive break on their second match point in the 10th game to seal the win.
“We started the tournament off really well two days ago and we did not really take a step back today. It was very hard to match that from two days ago, because the level was just so high from us, higher than we probably expected, but that was just amazing. The bigger issue at the beginning was that the Italians played really well. I think that maybe they deserved to win the first set more than we did, but that’s doubles. In the end, we got it, stayed tough, got a bit lucky, and here we are”, said Puetz.
Top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic beat Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-5 6-3 in 68 minutes to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the knock-out stage. Arevalo and Pavic are now 1-1 in the Bob Bryan Group. They will seek to boost their chances of qualifying for the semifinal when they face Bolelli and Vavassori. This year Arevalo and Pavic won the Roland Garros doubles title beating Vavassori and Bolelli.
Bopanna and Ebden converted their third break point in the third game to take a 3-1 lead. Arevalo and Pavic broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Arevalo and Pavic sealed the first set 7-5 with a second break in the 12th game. Arevalo and Pavic went up a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game. Bopanna and Ebden broke back in the second game for 3-4. Arevalo and Pavic earned a second break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead and closed out the second set on their first match point.
“I think we had to give it our all today. This was the match to essentially stay in the tournament. Anything can happen, and we knew that. Today we put in extra energy. Mate and I decided to go out there and give our best. We were lucky to execute in the important moments and finally we ended up getting the win”, said Arevalo.
