South African tennis ace Raven Klaasen qualifies for year-end masters
Raven Klaasen (South Africa) and Rajeev Ram (USA) have qualified for the 2016 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to be played in London in November.
South African tennis ace Raven Klaasen and his American partner Rajeev Ram have become the sixth team to qualify for the 2016 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
There are now two doubles spots left up for grabs at the season finale, to be held 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 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and year-end number one last year, are currently number nine 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 (defeating Carreno Busta/Fyrstenberg) and the Gerry Weber Open (defeating Kubot/Peya).
The duo also reached finals at the Miami Open presented by Itau (lost to Herbert/Mahut), the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open (lost to Johnson/Querrey) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 (lost to Granollers/Matkowski).
Klaasen and Ram will join Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez and Ivan Dodig 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 quarterfinals, 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,” said the former South African Davis Cup stalwart.
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