Granollers & Zeballos claim second Masters 1000 title of year in Montreal

Horacio Zeballos produced a serving masterclass in partnering Marcel Granollers to their second ATP Masters 1000 title of the year in Montreal on Monday.

The Argentine dropped just one point on his serve throughout the match, winning his 21st straight service point on championship point to hand Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury their second consecutive runner-up finish in the Omnium Banque Nationale présenté par Rogers following the 6-2, 7-6(4) victory.

“This was our first tournament together five years ago, so it’s a very special tournament for us and it means a lot to win this title,” Zeballos said. “It was a pleasure to play in front of this beautiful crowd.”

Granollers said, “Rajeev and Joe are one of the greatest teams on tour and it’s very tough to play against them. But we’re very happy with how we played today.  We’re very happy with the year with two Masters 1000s.”

Granollers and Zeballos won the Montreal title five years ago (beating Ram and Salisbury en route in the semi-finals) in their first tournament as a team.

In addition to winning the Rome title during the clay swing, Granollers and Zeballos also reached the final in Miami.

The Spanish-Argentine duo claimed two breaks in the opening set, including one in the seventh game that featured a point-of-the-year contender which had the teams scrambling to all corners of the court (watch below).

In a tight second set Salisbury rallied from 0/40 at 5-all. In the tie-break, all it took was Zeballos’ backhand chip lob return over Salisbury’s head to give the former champions the decisive mini-break at 5/4, from where Zeballos claimed his 20th and 21st consecutive points on serve to clinch the title and extend his team's lead atop the PIF ATP Live Doubles Team Rankings.