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No. 1 seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury have won this year's Monte Carlo Masters doubles title after beating Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the final. Ram and Salisbury, who reached the Monte Carlo semifinal in their team debut a year ago, handed a 6-4 3-6 10-7 loss to sixth-seeded Cabal and Farah in the Monte Carlo final.
Ram and Salisbury put the pressure on Cabal and Farah early on but the Colombian duo saved two consecutive break points in the opening game to avoid going down by an early break. However, Ram and Salisbury continued to pressure Cabal and Farah and it paid off as they claimed the first break of the match in the seventh game.
Cabal and Farah had their first break point in the eighth game but failed to convert as Ram and Salisbury served out for the first set in the 10th game. After losing the first set, Cabal and Farah bounced back in the second set as they earned their first break of the match in the eighth game and served out for a decider in the following game.
Ram and Salisbury came up big in when it mattered the most
Cabal and Farah won back-to-back points to reduce the match tie-break deficit to 6-5 but then lost the next three points as Ram and Salisbury took a comfortable 9-5 lead.
Ram and Salisbury missed out on their first two match points but realized their third to seal a three-set victory. Now, it's all set for the Monte Carlo singles final between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Tsitsipas is aiming to defend his Monte Carlo title, while Davidovich Fokina has set his eyes on winning his first Masters title. “It’s going to take a little bit more,” said Tsitsipas. “He’s on a good run, in a good rhythm.
I’ve played him before, he’s a good opponent, I’ve had big battles against him and I’m going to try and be as ready as possible. “I know he’s improved from before and I’m going to have that in the back of my head, to produce the best tennis that I can”.