Salisbury seals first ATP Finals semis spot

Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram reached the doubles semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals with a tense victory over French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies last night.

It was a winner-takesall clash and that showed, with nerves on display from all the players, but in the end it was Britain’s Salisbury and American Ram who triumphed 7-6 (5) 6-7 (4) 10-4.

The victory means Salisbury has made the last four at London’s O2 for the first time, while the Australian Open champions’ hopes of finishing the season as the world’s number one doubles pair are very much alive.

Their progress is especially impressive considering Salisbury only finished two weeks of isolation two days before their first match after his coach tested positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile Rafael Nadal will face Daniil Medvedev in the singles semi-finals after battling to a three-set victory over defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas.

It was a winner-takes-all clash after both men lost to Dominic Thiem, but Nadal was upbeat about his level following his narrow defeat to the Austrian on Tuesday and showed here that optimism was justified with a 6-4 4-6 6-2 victory.

Nadal served superbly up until an untimely double fault saw Tsitsipas pinch the second set, but the Spaniard, who has never won this title, responded well to reach the knockout stages for the sixth time.

Earlier in the day Andrey Rublev claimed his first victory at the Finals in his dead-rubber clash with Dominic Thiem.

Debutant Rublev was already eliminated after two losses, while Thiem’s brilliant victor y over Nadal guaranteed him top spot in the group.

It was perhaps no surprise that Thiem experienced a comedown while Rublev, who missed a match point in his loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas, hit top form to win 6-2 7-5.