Leander Paes and Jamie Cerretani book a berth in men’s doubles final in Dubai
The duo of Leander Paes and Jamie Cerretani have managed to enter the doubles final of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Friday. The pair, who outclassed Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 2-6, 6-4, [10-7] in the quarters, beat Damir Dzumhur and Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals.
The Indo-American pair will now take on defending champions and second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the doubles final. Rojer and Tecau made their way to the final with a 7-5, 6-3 win over third-seeded Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram.
With rain playing spoilsport for a considerable amount of time, Paes and Cerretani’s pair could only hit the court after 10.30 pm and once the game started, the duo seemed to be in a hurry to gather points and raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set. However, Krajinovic and Dzumhur tried hard to stage a minor comeback to secure three points, but the former didn’t give any chance after that and closed the first set.
The second set also started in an identical fashion with Paes and Cerretani rushing to a 4-0 lead. While many would have expected the pair of Klaasen and Venus to make a comeback in the game, the Indo-American wild card pair kept it plain and walked away with the match in an hour and six minutes.
In his on-court interview, Paes was very much appreciative of the fans for staying back close to midnight and supporting him when he was on his mission to his third doubles crown in Dubai.
“This win is for you all for staying so late in the night to support us,” Paes told the centre court crowd, reported PTI.
“The key tonight was teamwork. Sometimes Jamie holds up the team and at times I do. But in the end, it is about both of us fighting together till the end,” he added.
Speaking about their final opponents, defending champions Rojer and Tecau in Saturday’s final, Paes said, “They are a really good team, and even though we have practised with them in the past, this is the first time that we will be playing against both of them together.”
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