Brits Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury overcame compatriot Henry Patten and his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara to maintain an unbeaten start to their ATP Finals campaign.
Despite Salisbury being visibly under the weather and requiring a medical timeout during the first set, and Skupski wobbling on serve, the pair fought back to win 7-6(7), 3-6, 10-7 in an hour and 43 minutes.
The fifth seeds won an evenly balanced first set on a high-quality tiebreak before a loose service game by Skupski, including two double faults, allowed their opponents back in in the second.
Second seeds Patten and Heliovaara had the momentum going into the 10-point match tiebreak but were pegged back late on, with a sublime passing shot by Salisbury narrowly clipping the line for an 8-7 lead.
That put the all-British duo in the driving seat and they won the last three points without reply, with Skupski righting the ship to serve it out.
“I wasn’t feeling my best out there, I think I had a bug overnight, but Neal was great,” Salisbury said. “I didn’t have as much energy as normal, but I knew Neal was there to support me. He played great and did most of the work. I’m not sure how we got through that one in the end.”
“It was a very good level throughout, there were fine margins,” Skupski added. “We know as a team that we’ve fought hard all year, and when it comes to tie-breaks, we just fight until the end. We’ve had crucial matches throughout the year and that’s helped us along the way.”
They now sit top of the John McEnroe group in Turin having not lost a match, while Salisbury – a back-to-back champion alongside Rajeev Ram in 2022 and 2023 – extended his winning streak at the tournament to 12 matches, having not qualified last year.
The pair – who are making their debut at the Finals as a team – will play the all-American pairing of eighth seeds Christian Harrison and Evan King in their final round-robin encounter. They will qualify for the semi-finals before then if Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic defeat the Americans later on Wednesday.
Heliovaara and Patten, who beat Harrison and King in their first match, are second in the group.
Another all-British pairing, Wimbledon champions and top seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash – who have secured the year-end world No 1 ranking – continue their campaign against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the Peter Fleming group on Thursday.
