Kiwi doubles specialist out of final
it would have been nicer to win here today and get another go, but we’ve learned a lot about each other, we seemed to click out there.
"Today, it wasn’t about clicking, it was about finding one or two points to get over the hump."
As the scoreline suggests, it came down to just a couple of points, with it being a match dominated by big serving and there wasn’t a single break of serve in the 24 games played.
● Meanwhile former champion Roberto Bautista Agut has survived an epic three-hour encounter against Robin Haase to reach another ASB Classic final.
With all three sets going to a tiebreak, Bautista Agut dropped the first but learned his lesson in the next two, pulling through to claim one of the most gruelling matches seen at Stanley Street,
6-7 (7), 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5). Bautista Agut had been in fine touch all week and that continued at the start of the match as the
2016 winner shot out to a 3-0 lead. But once again Haase, who was bageled in his opening set of the tournament, showed it paid not to count him out.
Haase saved three set points to force a tiebreak, where he capitalised on the momentum to take a 6-3 lead.
The theme continued in the second set as Haase saved five break points. But Bautista Agut went up a gear in the tiebreak, racing to a 6-1 lead and this time Haase left himself with too much to do.
Having claimed an early break in third, Bautista Agut seemed to have had the match sewn up 4-1 ahead.
But Haase just refused to lie down.