Top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic battled past seventh seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-4) to reach the championships match at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
Arevalo and Pavic lost their matches since reaching the US Open semifinal, but they moved to within one win of the ATP Finals.
Arevalo and Pavic earned an early break in the first game. Heliovaara and Patton broke straight back to draw level to 3-3. Arevalo and Pavic earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-1.
Arevalo and Pavic broke serve in the second game to take a 2-0 lead, but Heliovaara and Patton pulled back on serve in the third game and held serve in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Both players held on their next service games en route to the tie-break. Arevalo and Pavic earned two mini-breaks to close out the tie-break 7-4.
“We started getting wins again. We had a great season and after the US Open we had a big break until Shanghai and after we got back we lost the first few rounds. Obviously you don’t feel great on the court. We found a way. As soon as we got the first win in the group, I believe we started playing much better and I guess that’s we needed”, said Pavic.
