Tour semis beckon for Klaasen

RAVEN Klaasen and Rajeev Ram head into the last chance saloon today as they play their final pool match of the ATP World Tour Finals at the 02 Arena in London.

It is effectively a quarterfinal for them as they take on tournament fourth seeds Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez, with the winner going into the semifinals.

“We still very much alive in this tournament having won on Monday,” said Klaasen.

“Mentally we need to be prepared for Friday and the round-robin system gives winners and losers a chance, so each match is key.”

King William’s Town-born Klaasen and American Ram started the year-ending top eight tournament by beating current world number one doubles team Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France in the first round.

They then followed that up by going down to the in-form fifth seeds Henri Kontinen of Finland on John Peers of Australia, 6-3, 6-4 in their second match on Wednesday.

Kontinen and Peers are officially through to the semis regardless of how the final round of fixtures goes as they sit top of the pool with two wins out of two.

Klaasen and Ram sit second thanks to a better ratio of games won and lost than Marc and Feliciano Lopez, who are third, also having won one and lost one match.

Herbert and Mahut were knocked out by the Lopez’s, going down in an epic three-set battle, 75, 5-7, 10-8, which means they cannot progress even if they win their final match against Kontinen and Peers.

It thus will all come down to the Klaasen/Ram v Lopez/Lopez match to see who will progress through as the second semifinalist.

In the other group second seeds Jamie Murray of Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil have also sealed their progress to the knockouts after two wins.

They will most likely be joined by third seeded American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, who should win their final pool match against the eighth seeds Treat Huey and Max Mimyi, while sixth seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo still can go through but will need to upset Murray and Soares and hope the Bryan’s lose.

Today’s action will see Herbert/Mahut up against Kontinen/Peers in the early afternoon game, while Klaasen/Ram will battle it out with Lopez/Lopez in the early evening game.