Daniell and Sitak lose but Rai reaches another doubles final

Marcus Daniell’s ATP season has come to an end with the New Zealand doubles player losing his semi final with Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner in St Petersburg.

Daniell and Demoliner have lost 7-5 6-3 to top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares who have enhanced their chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin next month. They are eighth on the race and almost assured of qualifying for the elite eight team field with just the Paris Masters to come.

For Daniell is the end of a difficult year which started so promisingly when he reached the Australian Open quarter finals with Philipp Oswald. But the Austrian’s decision to end their partnership after Wimbledon rocked Daniell whose highlight was unquestionably winning Olympic bronze with Michael Venus in Tokyo.

The Kiwi will now head to Portugal for a month of r&r and is unsure at this stage who he will start the 2022 season with as his partner.

Artem Sitak and his Croatian partner Antonio Sancic have lost their semi final at the ATP Challenger tournament in Ismaning in Germany. They have been beaten 7-6 (5) 2-6 10-7 by the Czech pair of Thomas Machac and Marek Gengel.

Ajeet Rai is through to another ITF doubles final in Monastir in Tunisia. Playing with Mirko Martinez they have won two matches in a day. In the semi final they defeated Wissam Abderrahman and Aziz Ouakaa 6-4 7-6. (3)