Melo & Soares Win Santiago

© Movistar Open/Jim RydellMarcelo Melo reaches for a smash en route to victory with Bruno Soares in the Santiago doubles final.

Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares claimed their second ATP World Tour title together when they upset top seeds and defending champions, Poland’s Lukasz Kubot and Austria’s Oliver Marach, in the Movistar Open doubles final Saturday night in Santiago.

Melo and Soares, who won their lone team title last year in May and also reached three other finals during the season, broke serve three times and saved eight of 10 break chances on their own serves in a 6-3, 7-6(3) win. They did not drop a set in three matches en route  to the title (they also had a walkover).

Kubot and Marach last year reached three finals during the Latin American swing, capturing titles in Santiago and Acapulco and finishing runners-up in Costa do Sauipe.

Melo said: “This is a great result, I am very happy. It’s been two years that we are playing together, it’s our second title and I feel we are becoming a very solid team. We didn’t lose a set this week and we beat one of the best teams in the world, which gives us a lot of hope for the future. We will be playing at home in Brazil next week. Looking forward to it.

“It was very even match from the beginning. They are two very strong players from the baseline that hit hard so we had to be aggressive. We did well although the second set was a bit trickier and could have gone either way.”

Soares said: “This is very special. We won last year in Nice and now here in Santiago. It means a lot to us to win here in South America."

At the SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg, American  James Cerretani and Canadian Adil Shamasdin reached their first final as a team after Saturday beating Karol Beck and Dudi Sela 7-6(4), 6-4. Prior to this week 28-year-old Shamasdin had just one doubles match win at tour-level.  In Sunday’s final Cerretani and Shamasdin will play Americans Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram.