Fourth seeds edge debutants Arribage/Olivetti

Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic made their Nitto ATP Finals experience count on Sunday to begin their title bid at the prestigious season finale with a victory.

The fourth-seeded duo downed Theo Arribage and Albano Olivetti 7-6(7), 6-4 in a tense Todd Woodbridge Group encounter. Arevalo and Pavic let slip five set points in the opening set, including four in the tie-break, before claiming the opener inside Inalpi Arena. They then rallied from 0-2 in the second set to complete an 87-minute win.

Arevalo and Pavic are competing in their fifth and ninth Nitto ATP Finals, respectively, and the duo did not panic when faced with difficult moments against event debutants Arribage and Olivetti. The Salvadoran-Croatian pair won just five points more than its opponents overall, according to Infosys ATP Stats, but crucially converted two of four break points it earned.

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“We’re very happy,” Arevalo said. “We felt as a team that we needed this win. Obviously in the group stages every win is huge in order to try to make it to the semi-finals. We played a great first match against tough opponents. I believe we played great tennis and we are both happy with our performance today.”

Pavic added: “I think in general we played a good match and just were solid from the beginning to the end. I guess in doubles it always comes down to a few key moments or points. We saved one of those break points in the first set. The match [could have] gone a different way, but it didn’t. Then basically we used the chances they gave us at the end of the match… That was the only difference.”

With Sunday’s victory, Arevalo and Pavic took a 2-1 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Frenchmen Arribage and Olivetti. The fourth seeds are chasing their first Nitto ATP Finals crown this year in Turin, where they previously reached the final together in 2024.