Horia Tecau ended his 19-season pro career with a victory on Thursday when he partnered Kevin Krawietz to their first Green Group win at the Nitto ATP Finals.
The eighth-seeded German-Romanian team held their nerve for a 6-3, 6-7(1), 10-6 victory over fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, who had already booked their places in Saturday’s semi-finals at the Pala Alpitour. Krawietz and Tecau finish round-robin play with a 1-2 record.
Later today, Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the 2021 year-end No. 1 pair in the FedEx ATP Doubles Team Rankings with nine titles, will challenge sixth seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek for the second semi-final spot from the Green Group.
FOLLOW THIS WEEK’S ACTION
Having saved five break points overall in their first two service games, Krawietz and Tecau grew in confidence, and it was a fine forehand winner from Krawietz on a deciding Deuce point on Zeballos’ serve that gave the eighth seeds a 4-2 advantage. Tecau closed out the first set, which lasted 34 minutes, with a hold to love after Krawietz struck a high volley for a winner.
The second set was a tale of two returners: Krawietz and Granollers, but no team could convert their chances through to a tie-break, which the Spanish-Argentinean team swept through for a Match tie-break. With clinical serving, Krawietz and Tecau finished their partnership in style.
Granollers and Zeballos qualified for the season finale semi-finals for the second straight year. They are now 26-12 on the season, which includes two ATP Masters 1000 trophies at the Mutua Madrid Open (d. Mektic/Pavic) and at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (d. Johnson/Krajicek). They were also finalists at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco (l. to Skupski/Skupski) and at Wimbledon (l. to Mektic/Pavic).
Tecau, who reached a career-high No. 2 in the FedEx ATP Doubles Rankings in November 2015, finishes his career with 38 tour-level doubles titles. The 36-year-old Romanian won 20 trophies with Jean-Julien Rojer and the pair finished 2015 as the year-end No. 1 team and Nitto ATP Finals champions. Together, they won the 2015 Wimbledon and 2017 US Open crowns.