ATP Cup doubles teams come through in the clutch

When you’re all even after singles play at the ATP Cup and your fate lies in the outcome of the doubles rubber, it’s time to pull out all of the stops.

Bulagaria’s Grigor Dimitrov—who’s had a full load all event between singles, doubles and serving as team captain—hasn’t been the only player stepping it up at the team competition. From established pairings to up-and-comers to singles stars, the doubles court has featured plenty of ready-for-primetime performances.

And there have been plenty of close calls along the way, too.

Despite Dimitrov’s shotmaking prowess, he and Alexandar Lazarov fell to last year’s breakout team, Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, in the latest results, giving Belgium the 2-1 win. That’s the score Canada beat Germany by: After a split in the singles rubbers, Next Gen standouts Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime topped last year’s French Open champs Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.

Novak Djokovic—the world No. 2 in singles and owner of one career doubles title—has been feeling the love in Australia all week and feeding off it. He partnered with fellow Serb Viktor Troicki to knock off France’s Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

While most of Mahut’s success has come with Pierre Hugues-Herbert, he and Roger-Vasselin are formidable in their own right: Last year, the Frenchmen reached the final at Wimbledon.

As the tournament nears the knockout stage, with the eight remaining nations battling it out, expect the doubles action to get even more intense.

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