Daniell and Oswald fall short in final
They may not have won the ASB Classic doubles final, but Marcus Daniell believes he and his partner Philipp Oswald can make it to the ATP Finals in London at the end of the year.
Daniell failed in his bid to win his second ASB Classic doubles title, 10 years after he had his breakthrough victory as he and and his Austrian partner lost 7-6 6-3 yesterday against the Queenstown-born Ben McLachlan, who plays for Japan, and Britain’s Luke Bambridge.
It was a close match, with the first key moment coming when Oswald’s serve was broken in the fifth game. However the Kiwi/ Austrian team were able to break back later to make it 4-4.
In the tiebreak, Oswald put a volley into the net on the first point to put him and Daniell down a mini break. McLachlan volleyed a winner away later, to give him and Bambridge a 6-2 lead and two points later the set was theirs.
The second set was even tighter, but Oswald was broken at 3-4 after two break points had already been saved. McLachlan served out the match to become two-time ASB Classic winner.
There was disappointment from Daniell and Oswald, but they believe this is a partnership that can go far and in just a few months they’ve reached two semifinals and a final.
‘‘Today wasn’t my best day and still we managed to almost win a set,’’ Oswald said. ‘‘I’m really looking forward and there’s a lot of tennis to be played this year.
‘‘Those team that make it to the 02 [Arena] in London, those are the teams that stick together and we’re committed to playing in London.’’
For any doubles team, the goal is to be in the top eight at the end of the year to qualify for ATP Finals. Michael Venus has made it there the past few years, but Daniell has yet to play in the ATP’s showpiece event. However, he believes that by partnering with Oswald he can make it.
‘‘That’s the goal every year,’’ Daniell said. ‘‘But to be honest, this is the first year where I’ve felt like I’ve really got a good shot.
‘‘I feel like this is a really strong partnership, we’ve got all the same goals, the same philosophies around how to get better and we’ve played better and better in matches this week.
‘‘We came up against opponents that were just a little too good today, but we’re going to keep improving.’’
Daniell played with 11 different partners in ATP events last yeaer and he’s looking for stability this year as well as good results and believes he can get both with Oswald.