London: Jean-Julien Rojer of The Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania celebrated their rise to the top of the men’s doubles with a 6-4, 6-3 win over eighth-seeded Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals held at the O2 Arena on Sunday.
Going in with a head-to-head 0-3 win/loss record against Tecau and Rojer, the Indo-Romanian duo simply did not show signs of raising the bar as they caved in to a far superior and confident duo, who had been installed as the new world No. 1 pairing following their semi-final win over Bob and Mike Bryan on Saturday.
The previous three meetings between the pairs all came earlier this season with Bopanna and Mergea losing in a tight five-setter in the semi-finals at the Wimbledon.
However, yesterday Bopanna and Mergea did not get off to their best of starts as the Indian got broken in the very first game and the new world No. 1s led 2-0. From then on, things were pretty simple as Tecau and Rojer took the set 6-4 in 31 minutes.
In the second set, things were closer at the start, but Bopanna and Mergea did not seem to be finding their range of shots all the time. Tecau and Rojer kept the pressure and got a break in the fifth for 3-2 lead, and then a second time Bopanna failed to hold in the ninth and it was all done and dusted in exactly an hour on court.
“Honestly, this is quite a surreal feeling to be here holding this trophy. I have been an alternate for the past three years as I ended up ninth, and today I am holding this trophy,” Rojer said.
“We always believed we could be here this year, and things became simpler after we won Wimbledon. It has been a long year and to end at the world number one and the year-end trophy is like a double bonus,” added Tecau.
