Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek held their nerve in a Match Tie-break for the second time in as many days on Sunday to clinch the Tennis Napoli Cup in dramatic fashion.
The top seeds prevailed 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 against Matthew Ebden and John Peers in Naples by reeling off four points in a row to recover a 6/8 deficit in the decider. Despite their Australian opponents having the momentum for much of the second half of the championship match, Dodig and Krajicek found a late surge to wrap an 84-minute win and lift their second tour-level crown of the year.
“It was very difficult,” said Dodig after the match. “In doubles a lot of matches are decided by a few points. Today, like yesterday, I think we connected good shots in big moments, and it was the key. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, but we have felt great these last two weeks, we’ve played really good tennis and have a lot of confidence, and I think that was the main reason for the win.”
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Having reached the final in Florence a week ago, Dodig and Krajicek dropped just seven games across their opening two rounds at the ATP 250 event in Naples. They then edged Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori 11/9 in a Match Tie-break in Saturday’s semi-finals before downing Ebden and Peers in the championship match.
“I think Ivan and I played well throughout the two weeks,” said Krajicek. “Different conditions obviously, indoors [in Florence] and outdoors here, so we did a good job adjusting. Tough one in the final last week, Eddie (Edouard Roger-Vasselin) and Nico (Nicolas Mahut) played really well, but we were excited to give ourselves another chance here, and in the big moments there at the end I think we played well and fortunately we came through there.”
Sunday's win bolstered Dodig and Krajicek's outside chance of qualifying for November’s Nitto ATP Finals in their first season as a full-time partnership. It lifted the Croatian-American pairing two spots to 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.
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