Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas reached the doubles final at the Monte Carlo Masters on Saturday. The Indo-Uruguayan team, who are unseeded this week in the tournament, beat the French-Monegasque wild card pair of Hugo Nys and Romain Arneodo in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 in an hour’s duration.
Bopanna and Cuevas converted three break points in the match, the last of which came at deciding point in the second set in the ninth game, with their opponents trying to stay in the match. The duo also saved all five break points on their serve.
This is the first ATP final for Bopanna and Cuevas, who joined forces at the start of this season. Bopanna, meanwhile, won the Chennai Open in January this year partnering Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and went on reach the final of the Dubai Open in February, teaming up with Poland’s Marcin Matkowski. Bopanna and Cuevas have had a good run this week in Monte Carlo, notching upsets over fifth seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram in the second round, and then over the top-seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Spaniards end the Frenchmen’s run
Bopanna and Cuevas will now face the Spanish seventh seeded team of Feliciano and Mark Lopez in Sunday’s final.
The Spaniards, the last remaining seeds in the doubles draw, upset the second seeded French pairing of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the first match of the day. The Spanish combination came through in straight sets as well, winning 6-1, 7-6(4) in 77 minutes.
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