A very particular film group closure. Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers, already classified to the semifinals in the ATP Finals, in London, left due to an injury to the Spanish. The Argentine and his rival they are still in the running in the season-ending tournament and their match rivals, Austrian Jurgen Melzer and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, got into the next round, leaving out another pair. Without a doubt, an incredible outcome in the Bob Bryan Group.
Zeballos participates for the first time in his career in the select ATP Final Masters and in a duo with Granollers they won both crashes. The fourth-seeded players knew early that they had already achieved the goal of reaching the semifinals by the result of the first-hour game, but they wanted to beat the seventh-seeded equal to win the zone undefeated, with an ideal score. They left the court at 6-6, as soon as they started the tiebreak.
The Argentine and the Spanish advanced to the semi-finals in the Bob Bryan Group thanks to the first set that Australian John Peers and New Zealander Michael Venus snatched from Croatian Mate Pavic and Brazilian Bruno Soares, top seeds in the tiebreak.
Finally, in that match, Pavic and Soares reversed the score and won 6-7 (2), 6-3 and 10-8. With that victory, they waited for the outcome of the Zeballos and Granollers match, while Peers and Venus were already eliminated, with no chance of being semifinalists.
If Zeballos and Granollers won a set, they were awarded first place in the group and the pair of Pavic and Soares finished second, thus advancing to the semis. On the other hand, if Melzer and Roger-Vasselin triumphed in two sets, they would be the leaders of the zone and the Argentine and the Spanish would be escorts.
Zeballos and Granollers started with the advantage of a break in service, went 5-4 and gave it up, leading to sudden death. The Spaniard had already been treated by the physiotherapist and decided to leave the court, after speaking with the Argentine, to take care of himself to play on Saturday.
As a consequence, Melzer and Roger-Vasselin looked at each other in the middle of the game without understanding what was happening to their future. The ATP confirmed that the Europeans thus won the group and the Argentine and Spanish, not being able to win a set, were second. Therefore, Pavic and Soares, the main seeds, had to resign themselves and be eliminated.
Therefore, Zeballos and Granollers, who hope to be able to play on Saturday without problems, will face the winners from the other zone, Wesley Koolhof, from the Netherlands, and Nikola Mektic, from Croatia. Meanwhile, Melzer and Roger-Vasselin will face Rajeev Ram of the United States and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain.
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