Tennis
Leo Spall, UK Correspondent 6y

Henri Kontinen, John Peers defend ATP Finals title in London

Tennis

LONDON -- After years of the doubles game celebrating the legendary status of brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, the Americans may have rivals to their throne.

Finn Henri Kontinen and Australian John Peers beat Poland's Lukasz Kubot and Brazil's Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-2 Sunday to become the first team to win back-to-back ATP Finals titles since the Bryans did it in 2004.

"We have had an amazing run here again and saved the best for last," said Kontinen, who confirmed the winning pair would play together again next year so they could compete for a hat trick of season-finale titles.

They broke in the fifth game of the first set and kept the pressure high on their opponents throughout thanks to an extraordinarily accurate serve, which delivered 13 points from 14 first serves landed and nine from 14 on second serve.

The pressure continued unabated in the second set, and Kontinen and Peers conceded just three break points the whole match, saving them all.

But if serving was their strength, it was the weakness of Kubot and Melo, the year-end No. 1 team, who were wayward far too often -- winning only 25 percent of their second serves.

The Finn and Australian team broke again in the first game of the second set and as good as sealed the title by adding a second break to take a 4-1 lead.

Kubot was generous in defeat.

"We tried our best but could not find the answer for our opponents," he said.

The victory underlined the world No. 2 pairing's remarkable record in finals: They have won all five they have contested this year and lost just one in 10 in their career together.

^ Back to Top ^