Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury are still alive, but only just, in Montreal.
The American-British duo’s hopes of a third championship-match appearance at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers hung by a thread on Sunday when it trailed Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 5/9 in a Match Tie-break. Yet Ram and Salisbury saved all four match points they faced before pulling through for a stunning 6-2, 4-6, 11/9 semi-final victory.
The third-seeded Ram and Salisbury clinched the final six points of the match in a victory that echoed Daniel Evans and Andy Murray’s spectacular comeback win at the Paris Olympics two weeks ago. It was their second Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Nys and Zielinski this year, after the two teams’ semi-final clash in January in Adelaide. Ram and Salisbury also triumped in a Match Tie-break on that occasion.
Seeing is BELIEVING 🫨😲
No. 3 seeds @RajeevRam & @joesalisbury92 recover from 9-5(!!!) down in the match tiebreak to reach the championship match! @OBNmontreal | #OBN24 pic.twitter.com/iUalK6mszC
In Sunday’s 80-minute encounter, Ram and Salisbury saved five of six break points they faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The 2021 champions and 2023 finalists in Toronto, Ram and Salisbury will hope to clinch their fourth ATP Masters 1000 trophy overall on Monday, when they will take on top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, who defeated fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic 6-2, 2-6, 10-1.
Ram and Salisbury, who have won the past two editions of the Nitto ATP Finals, have given their chances of returning to this year’s edition of the season finale a huge boost with their run this week in Quebec. The pair has risen eight spots to 12th in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings by reaching the final.
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