Fourth seed Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic battled past Christian Harrison and Evan King 7-5 (7-5) 6-7 (2-7) 13-11 in a hard-fought match after 1 hour and 51 minutes inside a packed Inalpi Arena at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. Arevalo and Pavic moved to 1-1 in John McEnroe Group.
Arevalo and Pavic earned their fourth win in as many tour-level matches against Harrison and King in 2025.
Arevalo and Pavic saved four break points in the first set at 1-0 and 2-1. King and Harrison fended off a set point at 5-6, but Arevalo and Pavic earned a mini-break to win the tie-break 7-5 on his third set point. Harrison and King wasted two break points in the second set, but they earned two mini-breaks to win the mini-break 7-2.
Arevalo and Pavic did not convert a match poin at 9-8 in the Match Tie-Break. King sent down what he thought it was as ace, but it was called a let. King double faulted. Arevalo and Pavic reeled off the next two points to win a thrilling match tie-break 13-11.
The win for Arevalo and Pavic means that Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski qualified for the semifinals. The British team beat Harri Heliovaara and Heny Patten 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 10-7. “Definitely it gives you a boost. No matter how you are feeling on the court, after a win like this it definitely gives you confidence and motivation and keeps you in the tournament, which is the most important thing. This match was critical for me and Mate to keep surviving in the tournament”, said Arevalo.
