Klaasen, Ram line up with the best in London
South African tennis ace Raven Klaasen and his American partner Rajeev Ram have become the sixth team to qualify or the 2016 ATP World Tour Finals. There are now two doubles spots left up for grabs at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November.
The South African-American tandem qualified for the first time as a result of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau beating Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi in the Swiss Indoors Basel quarter-finals late on Thursday.
Rojer and Tecau, who captured the ATP World Tour Finals and year-end No. 1 last year, are currently No. 9 in the Emirates ATP
Doubles Race To London - one spot adrift from Huey and Mirnyi.
Klaasen and Ram have compiled a 31-18 match record on the season, including a 2-3 record in title matches.
They lifted ATP World Tour titles at the Chengdu Open (bt Carreno Busta/Fyrstenberg) and the Gerry Weber Open (bt Kubot/Peya).
The duo also reached finals at the Miami Open (lost to Herbert/Mahut), the Geneva Open (lost to Johnson/Querrey) and the Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 (lost to Granollers/Matkowski).
Klaasen and Ram will join Pieost-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, Bob and Mike Bryan, Feliciano and Marc Lopez and Ivsn Dodig and and Marcelo Melo in the English capital.
Speaking from Basel, Switzerland where Klaasen and Ram are seeded three in the Swiss Indoors in Basel and through to the quarter finals, Klaasen said he was delighted on receiving the news.
“When the confirmation came through from the ATP World Tour on us qualifying I was really excited. I have personally worked so hard for this, it’s been a goal and Rajeev and I have put in a great effort throughout the year to earn our spot.”