France’s Mahut and Herbert win ATP Finals for second time

2021 ATP Finals, Turin | Draw | Schedule

• What happened: Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-6 (0) to win the ATP Finals in Turin.
• Why it matters: It is the second time the French pair have won the season-ending title, following their 2019 triumph.
• You will also learn: Salisbury and Ram had beaten Mahut and Herbert in the round-robin stages.

Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert won the ATP Finals for the second time in their careers as they beat US Open champions Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-6 (0) in the final in Turin on Sunday.

The Roland-Garros champions snatched the first set and then played a flawless tiebreak to win the second and complete a superb year which saw them win their 20th title together.

“It’s an amazing feeling winning for the second time,” Mahut said. “We lost against them in the round robin , they played an amazing match. We knew we had to play our best level, I think we played our best match of the week. It’s an amazing feeling to win this tournament twice. It’s an amazing achievement for us.”

Britain’s Salisbury and American Ram had beaten Mahut and Herbert in the round-robin stage, but the French pair played brilliantly throughout.

Mahut played beautifully throughout and his blistering return on the first point of the tiebreak set the tone and the pair ran through it to win the title for a second time.

At the age of 39, he shows no signs of slowing down and Herbert paid tribute to his partner. “He’s Benjamin Button, he’s going the other way,” he said. “He’s getting better and better. To share the court with him is a privilege.”

And Mahut said he hoped to be around for a while yet. “I hope we’re going to enjoy a few more years together,” he said.

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