Bopanna/Cuevas Reach First Team Final

Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas will face seventh seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in Sunday’s final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where they will bid to clinch their first ATP World Tour team title.

Bopanna and Cuevas, who had won three straight Match tie-breaks en route to the semi-finals, ended the run of Monegasque Romain Arneodo and Hugo Nys of France (pictured above) 6-4, 6-3 in 60 minutes on Saturday evening. The match was watched by His Serene Highness Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco.

Bopanna, 37, will now look to boost his 3-3 record in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title matches with his 16th crown overall (15-23), while 31-year-old Cuevas will bid to add to his 2015 Internazionali BNL d’Italia trophy (w/Marrero) in Rome and improve upon his 6-7 mark in team finals.

Bopanna secured the first service break for a 4-3 lead, on a deciding deuce point, on Arneodo’s serve, with a forehand that the wild card team could not return into court. At 5-4, Bopanna then closed out the 31-minute set to 30 when Arneodo returned into the net.

At 2-2 in the second set, some quick hands at the net by Arneodo helped Nys from 0/30 to 40/30, but Cuevas and Bopanna – with a powerful forehand – combined to win a deciding deuce point to break serve. The extra groundstroke firepower of Bopanna and Cuevas made the difference as they wrapped up victory by breaking Arneodo again, when Cuevas hit a forehand return that Arneodo volleyed into the net.

Earlier in the day, Spaniards Lopez and Lopez beat second-seeded Frenchmen and defending champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. Read Report