© Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic take on Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek on Monday at the Nitto ATP Finals.
2021 semi-finalists open with Match Tie-break win in Green Group
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic held their nerve in a Match Tie-break to prevail in an engrossing round-robin encounter on Monday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where the fourth seeds came through 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 against Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.
After the teams split a hard-fought opening two sets in the Green Group clash, it was Mektic and Pavic who were clinical at key moments in the decider. Despite being pegged back from 4/1 to 7/7 in the Match Tie-break, the Croatian pair reeled off three points in a row to clinch a 92-minute victory.
Mektic and Pavic are making their second consecutive Nitto ATP Finals appearance together, having reached the semi-finals on their debut as a team in 2021. The pair is chasing its sixth tour-level title of the season at an event where Mektic knows what it takes to go all the way — the 33-year-old won the trophy in 2020 in London alongside Wesley Koolhof.
More to follow…
© Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
