Bruno Soares (left) and Alexander Peya
THIRD seeds Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil
captured their first ATP Tour men's doubles title in only their fourth
tournament together at the Malaysian Open at Putra Stadium in Bukit
Jalil.
Peya-Soares, quarter-finallists at the recent US Open, dropped the first set before edging unseeded Brits Colin Fleming-Ross Hutchins 5-7, 7-5, 10-7 in the final.
Peya and Soares have had various partners in the past but they hope their new partnership will be long-term.
"We worked hard throughout the tournament and to end the week with a title in only our fourth tournament together is a great thing. It is a good start and we hope our partnership will be long-term," said Soares.
Peya-Soares made an immediate impact in their first tournament in July by reaching the final in Bastad and followed up with a last-16 appearance in Winston-Salem before reaching the quarter-finals at the US Open.
"We practised a lot in-between our matches here just to get things right. Ranking is not important at this moment... what is more important is that we are clicking better day-by-day. Let's see where this goes in the long run," said Soares.
The champions earned US$46,620 (RM142,456) for their efforts while Fleming-Hutchins received US$24,500 (RM74,864).
"We'll have two days to celebrate before we travel to Tokyo for the Japan Open. We hope to keep on doing well."
After Tokyo, the pair will play in Beijing before returning to Europe for tournaments.
Fleming-Hutchins, the World No 13 but unseeded in Kuala Lumpur, were so close to winning their fourth career title after taking the first set.
"It was a good match. We are disappointed to lose, but nonetheless, we enjoyed the experience here. We did well in the first set but a bad fifth game in the second led to our defeat," said Hutchins.
Fleming-Hutchins left for Beijing after the final and will play their opening match on Wednesday.- www.nst.com.my
