The already popular Croatian Davis Cup duo has reached new heights.
Croatian Davis Cup teammates Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavić plunged into the final of the ATP tournament in Chengdu after defeating Mexico's Santiago Gonzalez and Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 5:7, 6:4, 10:8 in the semi-final, reports HRT on September 28, 2018.
Dodig and Pavić were initially losing 1:4 in the first set with one lost serve, though they managed to equalize for 4:4. However, they lost the serve once again at a 5:6 result, and ultimately lost the first set. In the second set, the Croatian duo had a break early on at 1:1, continued to lead 3:1, and defended their advantage until the end of the set.
In the decisive third set, the Croatian teammates achieved an incredible comeback. In the tie-break set which played to 10 points, Gonzalez and Qureshi first led 5:0, and continued for lead 6:2, but Dodig and Pavić made a terrific breakthrough to equalize at 8:8, and won the next two points to not only win the game and the set, but a place in the Chengdu Open final.
Dodig and Pavić will play the winner of the game between American player Austin Krajicek and Indian player Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, and Argentine player Guido Pella and Portuguese player Joao Sousa.
Dodig and Pavić beat out the Indian-Mexican duo Leander Paes and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (4:6, 6:3, 10:5) in the first round of the tournament, and in the quarterfinal, they overcame Ukrainian Denys Molchanov and Slovak Igor Zelenay 3:6, 6:3, 10:4.
The Chengdu Open, which was added as a new tournament to the ATP World Tour in 2016, replacing the ATP Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, is held at the Sichuan International Tennis Center in Chengdu, China. The prize pool for the tournament is $1.18 million.
