Croatian tennis player Mate Pavić and his Austrian partner Oliver Marach have secured the year-end No. 1 doubles ranking on the ATP World Tour on Friday.
Pavić and Marach advanced to the semi-final of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Paris after defeating American John Isner and Briton Neal Skupski 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 12-10 in the quarter-final. In the semi-final of the Paris Masters on Saturday, Pavić and Marach will face Spaniard Marcel Granollers and American Rajeev Ram who overcame the Polish-Brazilian combination of Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, 6-1, 6-4, reports Vecernji List on November 2, 2018.
“We had a great start to the season. Overall, we only lost two or three times in the first round and therefore we are very happy because we have secured the first place for the end of the year,” Pavić said.
Pavić and Marach have played 9 ATP finals in 2018 so far
Pavić and Marach started off the year with 17 consecutive wins, and during that period, they also won the Australian Open. Later in the year, they made it to the Roland Garros final, and overall in 2018, they played nine ATP finals and have won four titles.
Pavić is the youngest No. 1 player in the ATP ranking since 1995
At 25 years old, Pavić is the youngest player to finish in first place on the ATP list for doubles since Todd Woodbridge took the cake in 1995 at 24. Marach, on the other hand, is the oldest to finish in first at 38 years old, succeeding American Sherwood Stewart who became the oldest in 1984.
Čilić failed to win against Djokovic, who will be the No. 1 singles player in the ATP ranking on Monday
In other Croatian tennis news, Croatia’s best singles player Marin Čilić was unable to overcome Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final of the Paris Masters on Friday. Čilić lost 4: 6, 6: 2, 6: 3 after two hours and 10 minutes of play. It was the 18th match between Čilić and Djokovic and the 16th victory for the Serbian player who will be the No. 1 tennis player in the world in the ATP ranking on Monday.
