Tennis: Marach / Pavic win in London

The signs for Marbach's fourth participation at General were not so good: Pavic had felt a stab in the warm-up for the semifinal at Paris-Bercy and the duo canceled the match. But the first question after the victory could answer Pavic's appeasement. "I did not feel any pain, but it's a strange feeling because I did not serve from Paris, but there was more in my head that I really felt something."

The question mark behind Pavic seems erased after this victory, the form especially to Marach. "I served unbelievably today, it was one of the best games of this year.Also the second serve, because I've risked a lot," said Marach satisfied. His partner saw that he had served very well, but "in terms of speed, he is not quite there."

Mahut provides a moment of shock

A difficult situation arose in the first set: Nicolas Mahut, after a eulogy, crashed against the linesman placed far behind the line and cut off the left foot. The "medical time out" or a longer break is the result. "It was a very solid game, it was not easy to play with the downtime." Above all, an eight-minute break at 5: 4 before serving Marach was there annoying. "The good thing is that I served.We were the best team.Although it did not hurt, I had a good feeling," said the 38-year-old Styrian.

He did not really want to talk about the dream semifinal. "We are closer, it's okay: one game has won, but there are now two more pieces in our group are the only teams against which we lost this year," said Marach. But: "If we serve and return as in the first sentence, we certainly have good chances."

Prize duo number one

For Marach and Pavic, the day was another highlight. After the single between Marin Cilic (CRO) and Alexander Zverev (GER), the best duo of the year was awarded the ATP trophy as the first team at the end of the year. "It will be remembered forever, what happens to me today, it's very rare, nobody ever did that in Austria, and that's a lot to me," rejoices Marach, who regrets only one thing. "It would be nice if my children were there, so I would take them to the square."

Marach / Pavic will meet Wednesday's winner Lukasz Kubot / Marcelo Melo (POL / BRA-3) against Mike Bryan / Jack Sock (USA-5). Of course, a second win would not mean the semifinal ticket, Marach is twice as cautious in this regard. In 2009, he entered the last game of the group after a 2-0 victory. A win in the set would then have been enough, but it did not succeed in the match against Bob and Mike Bryan at that time.