Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek cinched their fifth tour-level title of the season together on Wednesday at the China Open where they moved past second seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 6-7(12), 6-3, 10-5 to ensure they remained first in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.
The Croatian-American team recovered from losing an epic first set, in which they failed to convert five set points in the tie-break before falling behind. The top seeds refused to buckle, though, taking their only break point opportunity in the second set to level before advancing through a Match Tie-break, sealing victory after two hours and eight minutes.
“It was a great match tonight,” Krajicek said. “A really high level from both teams. I think we did a good job in the second set of staying in the match and keeping our level and I think we played great. We haven’t been back to China in four years, so to come back and win is super special.”
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Dodig and Krajicek’s win means they stay first in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, 360 points ahead of Koolhof and Skupski, who would have moved to top spot with victory.
“It was great to be back here,” Dodig said. “We had a great time from the first round. Played great matches and the crowd was amazing.”
Dodig and Krajicek have now won five tour-level trophies in 2023, having also clinched titles at Roland Garros, Monte-Carlo, Rotterdam and The Queen’s Club. Wednesday’s triumph was the pair’s eighth as a team and fourth on hard courts overall. Dodig also won the crown in Beijing in 2019 with Filip Polasek.
Koolhof and Skupski were chasing their third trophy of the year. The Dutch-British team did not drop a set en route to the final.
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