Dubai: The Spanish duo of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez wilted at the last step to go down 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (12) against the Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi in the men’s doubles final of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open on Saturday.
The win also ended a title-drought for Italians Bolelli and Seppi while improving their win-loss record to 24-25 as a team. Last year, Bolelli and Seppi had lost in straight sets to Jeremy Chardy and Lukas Rosol in the first round.
However, this week was a contrast of sorts as they got through to the final without losing more than four games in a set while accounting for wild cards Mahesh Bhupathi and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, Tommy Robredo and Australian Open doubles champion Jamie Murray in the quarter-final and then Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkozski in the semi-final.
“We tried to play aggressive. We tried to play with the first serve and then I think we returned very well in the tie-break in the last points. Finally, this has been a good win for us,” Bolelli explained.
After losing the opening set 2-6, the Spaniards came roaring back with a break in the eighth game for Feliciano Lopez to serve out for the set in exactly half an hour and force the match tie-breaker.
The Spaniards took the early initiative leading 5-1 at the change of ends. But Bolelli and Seppi fought back for 5-5 and then 10-10 till some superb play from the baseline saw Seppi and Bolelli complete a fine win.
The doubles title was also the end of a fine week for Seppi, who celebrated his 32nd birthday on February 21. “It’s been a very good week for me, not in singles though. Maybe I played one of the worst matches this year, but actually it’s good to win the title in doubles. It’s my first one. I lost six finals, so to win finally a doubles title is always something special,” Seppi smiled.
This was also their first final as a pair, and that bodes well for them as Italy prepares to face Switzerland in their Davis Cup tie in Pescara next week. “Of course, three big players [Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Fabio Fognini] aren’t playing. It’s gonna be a tough match for sure, because we are playing indoor clay. We don’t have so much time to maybe adapt to the surface,” Seppi said.
“But of course to play at home is always nice. Hopefully it’s gonna be a good crowd. They’re gonna support us. And of course we want to win this title,” he added.
Result
Doubles: Simone Bolelli/Andreas Seppi bt Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (12).
