In the first Madrid Open of History without a single Spanish tennis player in the round of 16, fate has wanted an Navy representative to fight for the title in doubles. Marcel Granollers, along with his inseparable Horacio Zeballos, accessed the final in the Magic Final after beating the Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz (7-6 (6) and 7-5 in 1h45). It will be the second final for both in the Madrid tournament, which they already conquered in 2021, and the novena for both in 1,000 Masters, a category in which they present a sensational balance of 8-1 in duels for the title (they only failed in Indian Wells 2024). Granollers and Zeballos will be measured this Saturday (15:30) with the Salvadoran Marcelo Arévalo and the Croatian Mate Pavic, numbers one in the world.
“Happy. We have played a great game, I think that the four. It has been a very demanding match at the mental level, because I think that none of the four was making failures and has been, as I say, demanding. But well, happy to have endured until the end and be in the final,” he explained in the Mixed Granollers, 39 -year -old and 10th of the World Double Ranking, which aspires to raise its 29th trophy in its 58th end. This year, The Catalan and the Argentine have already caught the Chaenix Challenger and the ATP 250 of Bucharest to start their climbing in the ranking: With a victory in the final of Saturday, they would rise until the seventh position of the classification, and would also enter among the eight best doubles of the year in La Race.
To get into the final of Madrid for the second time, Granollers and Zeballos raised the German, sixth and seventh of the world ranking, in a quite tight match. They came from overcoming Heliovaara and Patten, third and fourth of the world, in the quarterfinals, and this Friday they continued on their way in Madrid without giving a single set. They solved the first manga in the Tie-Break, and in the second they received an inopportune break when they got to win, but they broke back at the decisive moment. “I think we have both been very good. We have both thrown out of the car at all times. We have helped ourselves a lot in those moments that was mentally complicatedthat the result was against. And happy, especially because of the way we are competing, ”added a Granollers that encouraged the Spanish public to enter the Santana on Saturday to support him in front of the ranking leaders and champions of two of the three 1,000 masters of this course.
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