Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof seal title number seven at the Rolex Paris Masters
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Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof defeated Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 7-6(5), 6-4 to win their seventh ATP title and third Masters trophy of the season at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Adding to their Masters crowns in Montreal and Madrid, the Paris title means that Skupski and Koolhof have won a third of the biggest prizes on the ATP Tour in only their first season together.
Capping off another successful week for the British, Dutch duo, the team will now head to the Nitto ATP Finals as the top ranked pairing in the world – overtaking fellow Brit Joe Salisbury and his partner Rajeev Ram.
The pair defeated in-form teams Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop, as well as Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara to reach their 10th final of the season so far.
In their final contest, the second seeds had held a 4-1 lead in the opening set, but Dodig and Krajicek – appearing in their fourth final in four weeks – would go on to force a tie-break. Skupski and Koolhof have proved clinical in the big moments this week and needed just two points off their oppositions serve to clinch the set.
Skupski and Koolhof needed just one break in the third game of the second set to wrap up the victory, refusing to give their opponents even one break point opportunity.
“It’s been great with Wes from day one, really, in Australia,” said the new world No.2 Skupski.
“We just keep growing, we had a few setbacks here and there, but we bounced straight back. We both work hard and we get along very well off the court. I think that’s one of the keys to gel on the court. If we keep putting the work in, things seem to be paying off, and hopefully we can keep going in Turin.”
