Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah they celebrated again in a big way. On the morning of this Sunday, October 31, the Colombian tennis players defeated the American in the final Rajeev Ram and the british Joe Salisbury with partials 6-4 and 6-2, to achieve his first title in the ATP 500 from Viena (Austria).
With this new consecration the duo ‘Cafetera’ came to three trophies in this season, taking into account the consecrations in the ATP 500 from Dubai and Barcelona; Furthermore, it reached its number 1 title9 as a duo and at sixth in tournaments of this category.
After a couple of difficult months, in which they fell in the first rounds of the US Open and the Masters 1000 de Indian Wells, Colombians closed a week of great level. In the decisive duel they had an additional challenge: defeat Ram and Salisbury for the first time, since, of the three occasions in which they had faced, in all they had lost. In fact, two of those falls had occurred this year: one in the semifinals of the ATP 250 from Eastbourne and another in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
Unlike the other parties, in which Cabal and Farah had to resort to a third set to take the victory, in this duel they looked very solid, without giving great possibilities to their rivals, who are the second best couple in the world, according to the ATP ranking. One of the keys was the return on return, when looking for break points; and the other corresponded to high percentage of services (74%), as it allowed them to sustain the advantages at specific times.
In the first set Cabal and Farah, located in the fifth box worldwide, came out pressing on the serve of their rivals, hitting with precision and committing few errors on the return. On Ram and Salisbury’s first service game, Colombians managed to break, and from there it was a matter of managing the advantage.
While several of those games were defined in the deuce, the national duo was able to control the moments of adversity; this, in good part, due to the effectiveness in first services (72%). In defining the set, the British and the American tried to react, but They could not counteract the regularity of the Colombians.
For the second set, Cabal and Farah struck again from the start, as got a break in the opponents’ first service game. They held their service, and then without giving rise to reaction, they went bankrupt again to go 3-0 up. From the bottom of the court they were generating a lot of damage, and when going up to the net, it was also difficult to overcome them when they volleyed.
Ram and Salisbury had the possibility of recovering one of the two breaks, however, again the lack of specificity ‘took its toll’ on them. Of the seven possibilities they had throughout the game, they did not specify none; while Colombians, of their five chances, they took advantage three. There, too, a difference was made in favor of the two-time Grand Slam champions.
The 19 titles of Cabal and Farah in the professional circuit are distributed as follows: two Grand Slams (Wimbledon and US Open, both in 2019); two Masters 1000, six ATP 500 and nine ATP 250. The best performing surface has been the clay, where they got the 63% of his conquests.
According to the statistics of Fabián Valeth, a journalist for the Colombian Tennis Federation, the trophy in Vienna the latest that Colombians have won in one season, surpassing what was done in 2016 at ATP 250 from Moscow (Russia), which they obtained on October 23.
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