The men’s doubles final at the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals featured two very aggressive teams. Rohan Bopanna of India, currently ranked 12th in doubles and Florin Mergea of Romania, currently ranked 14th in doubles, versus Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands currently ranked 6th and his partner Romanian Horia Tecau currently ranked 5th in doubles. This was the fourth time Rojer and Tecau had made the tour finals but in all of their previous visits they had never even won a single match. This year, however, they come into the event with a Wimbledon title under their belt and therefore much more belief in their ability to win big titles.
New Men’s Doubles Champion Team at the World Tour Finals
The match started with a double fault by Bopanna and that was followed immediately by an ace. The rest of the first game featured erratic serving from Bopanna and when it was over Rojer and Tecau were up a break and that would be the only break in the first set. Right from the start of the match Rojer was moving forward in the court looking to attack at the net and his aggressive movement seemed to rattle his opposition into making a few volley errors as well as an overhead smash from Bopanna that went directly into the net.
Both teams started each point in the “I” formation but even so both teams were able to hit some clean return winners, however, Rojer and Tecau formed a solid barrier at the net being able to defend against their opponents and striking the winning volley with great placement time and time again.
The team of Rojer and Tecau sealed the first set 6-4 with an ace, one of their six aces in the first set compared to four by their opponents, who also had two double faults.
The second set started with a strong service hold by Mergea, sending the message that they were still in the fight for the year end title. In the second set the teams varied their court positioning and did not rely solely on the “I” formation. Games went on serve quite easily in the second set until the fifth game when Bopanna was broken on a beautiful topspin lob by Rojer who had played a beautiful angled shot the point before for a winner.
As the match moved on Rojer and Tecau seemed to focus on drawing errors from Bopanna and another double fault by Bopanna led to the first and only match point needed, with Rojer and Tecau taking the match in an hour 6-4 6-3. Rojer and Tecau are the first team since 1986 to win the tournament without losing a set. A strong performance at this event and throughout the year has allowed them to steal the #1 doubles ranking from the Bryan brothers and suggests great things ahead for this team in 2016.
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