November 2, 2019 – Ivan Dodig and partner Filip Polasek have advanced to the semifinal of the Paris Masters – and booked a spot in the ATP Finals in London!
Croatian tennis player Ivan Dodig and Slovakian partner Filip Polasek are among the top eight doubles teams in the world to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held in London from November 10 to 17, 2019.
Dodig and Polasek advanced to the semifinal of the Masters 1000 Series ATP tournament in Bercy (Paris Masters) with a victory over American Rajeev Ram and British player Joe Salisbury in the quarters – 6:3, 6:7 (5), 10:7, though this success was not ultimately necessary for them to book a spot in London.
Namely, the legendary Americans Bob and Mike Bryan (seventh in the ‘Race for London’) pulled out of all tournaments until the end 2019, thus virtually securing Dodig and Polasek a spot among the eight best doubles teams.
Of course, it helped that Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut celebrated in the quarterfinal of the Paris Masters against Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin, who still had a theoretical chance to skip ahead of Dodig and Polasek – that is, if they won the title.
This is an excellent success for Dodig and Polasek, who have only been playing together since June this year, and who already have titles from Cincinnati and Beijing and can boast the Wimbledon semifinal.
This will be Dodig’s sixth appearance in the ATP Finals with three different partners. Dodig has played four finals so far with Brazilian Marcelo Melo (2013 – 2016) and in 2017 with Spanish player Marcel Granollers. This will be Polasek’s first appearance in the final.
The Croat and the Slovakian team thus continue their march in Bercy, and their rivals for a spot in Sunday’s final will be Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov, who defeated Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov in the quarters.
Source: HTS
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