McDonald/Shelton Save 2 MPs, Reach Washington Final

Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton mounted a comeback Friday at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, saving two match points to reach the Washington final.

The Americans ousted third seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 3-6, 6-3, 12-10 after one hour, 17 minutes. The British-Finnish pair held a 9/7 lead in the Match Tie-break before McDonald and Shelton tallied five of the next six points to advance. Glasspool will rue letting slip a match point by double faulting.

McDonald and Shelton, who are teaming for the fourth time this season, won 61 per cent of their second-serve points, compared to their opponent's 45 per cent. The wild cards will next face Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen or Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the ATP 500 final.

???? It's a party in the USA ????@mackiemacster & @BenShelton reach the doubles final, saving 2 match points to defeat Glasspool/Heliovaara 3-6, 6-3, 12-10! A maiden ATP final for Shelton ????#MubadalaCitiDCOpen pic.twitter.com/KZYW8YYtOY

— Mubadala Citi DC Open (@mubadalacitidc) August 4, 2023

Home Hopes Advance In Kitzbühel Top seeds Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler pulled double duty Friday to reach the final at the Generali Open. The Austrians started the rain-hindered day by defeating Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek 7-6(9), 6-4 in the quarter-finals before moving past third seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 7-5, 7-6(13) in the last four, where Erler and Miedler avoided a Match Tie-break by saving six set points to close the match in straights.

Erler and Miedler, who won in Kitzbühel in 2021, will meet Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the final after the Colombian-Kazakh team rallied past Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos 4-6, 6-3, 10-7.

Aiming for their fifth tour-level team title, Erler and Miedler will be part of an all-Austrian championship Saturday, when Dominic Thiem competes for the singles title before the top doubles seeds take court.