October 6, 2019 – Croatian Davis Cup representative Ivan Dodig and Slovakian tennis player Filip Polasek won the doubles title at the ATP 500 Series tournament in Beijing – the China Open.
Namely, HRT reports that Dodig and Polasek defeated Polish player Lukasz Kubot and Brazilian player Marcelo Melo 6-3, 7-6 (4) in Sunday’s final.
Kubot and Melo led in the second set 5:2, and at 5:4, they also missed a set point on their serve, though they still found the way to the victory in two sets.
“We had a good time all week. We played good matches. The final was a really exciting match. It was very nice to play in front of a lot of people. We really enjoyed the quality of the match, [it was] very high,” said Dodig for the ATP Tour.
“The first set was really, really good from our side. We started well. In the second set, we also made the break in the beginning. We [had the match] under control. Then they played one really good game, broke back… In the end, we were a little bit better in the crucial moments. I think we deserved to win this final even though the match could go both ways.”
This was the third joint final and the second triumph for Dodig and Polasek after reaching their first trophy at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 Series tournament. Dodig has thus won his 15th doubles trophy in his 30th final, while Polasek won his 14th in his 29th final.
The winners were awarded $228,110 and 500 points, while Kubot and Melo will take home 300 points and $111,660, respectively.
Thanks to these 500 points, Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek have climbed to 9th place in the race for London, where the top eight doubles teams of 2019 will compete in the final tournament at the London O2 Arena. Dodig and Polasek have 2460 points, which is 200 less than the current 8th-placed US-British team of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor are ranked 13th with 2020 points and still have a good chance of reaching the final tournament, too.
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
