Wimbledon Champions Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo have become the first doubles team to qualify for the Nitto ATP finals which run from November 12-19 after coming through an epic Wimbledon final 13-11 in the fifth over Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic. This was their third consecutive grass court title. The pair now has a win/loss record of 33-9 for the year after going 14-0 on Grass.
How they qualified
The Pole/Brazilian pair hold two Masters titles from the first half of the season. They captured the title in Miami beating Americans Jack Sock and Nicholas Monroe before heading over to clay and taking home the Mutua Madrid Masters title over French pairing Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vaasselin. Kubot/Melo entered the grass court season by winning the Ricoh Open title in s-Hertogenbosch. This sparked their run of form by capturing the Halle Open title and then the biggest of their careers at Wimbledon, which was also the pairs first Grand Slam title together.
For Marcelo Melo, this will now be his fifth straight consecutive appearance at the London's O2 Arena. Three years ago, the Brazilian partnered with Ivan Dodig made the final in London only losing out to the Bryan Brothers. Dodig, who partnered Oliver Marach in 2009 and 2010, reached the semifinal with Swede Robert Lindstedt.
World Number 1
Following his win at Wimbledon, Marcelo Melo will return to the top of the ranking spot, previously held by Henri Kontinen. The Brazilian began his third stint at the top and first became the number one player in November 2015 which he kept until April 2016. He then reached the summit again on ninth May to fifth June 2016.
The Pole shot up four places in the rankings from eighth to fourth, his highest ranking to date. This was his second Grand Slam title after partnering Robert Lindstedt to the Australian Open crown in 2014 as the 14th ranked pair.