Marcelo Melo is Brazilian player of the year for the second straight time
With no singles players in the top-100, there could have been only one winner of the Brazil Olympic Award for the best player of the year, with doubles world number 9 Marcelo Melo taking the honor for the second year in a row. The 35-year-old received the award on Tuesday night at the Teatro Bradesco in Rio de Janeiro where the ceremony was held for the 20th time, chosen by journalists, managers, former athletes and various other people from the world of sport. Marcelo was delighted to receive the award for the second straight year, playing a very solid season with Lukasz Kubot and finishing in the top-10 for the sixth straight year.
Melo claimed 42 wins in total and he and Kubot kicked off the season with a title in Sydney, beating Jan-Lennard Struff and Viktor Troicki in the title match. They were beaten in a super tight quarter-final clash in Melbourne against Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff and the results were not that good in the next couple of months, failing to reach the semis in nine of the next 10 events they have played. Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor halted them in the semis in s-Hertogenbosch but Melo and Inglot went all the way in Halle, overpowering Mischa and Alexander Zverev in the title match.
They couldn't transfer that form to Wimbledon, though, losing in the second round to Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski in four tight sets and dropping a huge amount of points after lifting the title at the All England Club a year ago. The results were not there in Washington, Toronto, Cincinnati and Winston-Salem, heading to New York in a poor form but finding the momentum in the best possible moment, advancing into the final where they lost to Mike Bryan and Jack Sock. Carried by this momentum, Melo and Kubot conquered Beijing after a great performance against Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic and they were the players to beat in Shanghai as well, toppling Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray in the title match to stay on the winning course.
Competing at the ATP Finals, Marcelo and Lukasz defeated Pavic and Marach but they suffered losses against Jack Sock and Mike Bryan in the opening match and also against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut to stay without the semi-final ticket, still doing enough to wrap up the year in the top-10.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2EDZdAJ
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