John Isner and Jack Sock, who had never won a doubles match together in two previous tournament appearances, completed a surprising run to the Shanghai Rolex Masters title by defeating Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday. Isner and Sock did not face a single break point as they prevailed in one hour and two minutes.
The American duo broke serve at 2-2 in the opening set and for a 4-3 lead in the second to seize complete control. Isner and Sock had plenty of other chances in the second, as well, but were unable to capitalize on decisive deuce points at 1-1 and 2-2.
“We just had a lot of fun,” said Sock, who also advanced to the Shanghai quarterfinals in singles. “(We) laughed a lot; kept it light out there. I think that’s why we played pretty well…. It’s been a long year, but it’s been a good one. It’s been an unbelievable week for me.”
“We both definitely prefer singles, but we also have a lot of fun playing with each other in doubles,” Isner commented. “I had so much fun here this week. We’ve only played together a couple of times, so to be here holding this trophy is super special.”
“You guys were serving big today and I’m guessing serving big all week, so well done,” Peers told Isner and Sock during the trophy ceremony. “To play in front of crowds like this makes it even more fun for us to play.”
This marks Sock’s seventh career doubles title and second at a Masters 1000 event (he previously triumphed with Vasek Pospisil at the 2015 Indian Wells Masters). Sock and Pospisil also won Wimbledon in 2014.
For Isner, this marks his fourth doubles title–a number that includes two at the Masters 1000 level (previously with Sam Querrey five years ago in Rome). He also finished runner-up with Querrey at the 2010 Rome tournament and again with Querrey in 2012 at Indian Wells.
Kontinen and Peers would have almost clinched a place in the World Tour Finals with a title. Still, the Finnish-Australian pairing snagged 600 points and climbed from No. 8 to No. 7 in 2016 race, passing Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi. Kontinen and Peers are 245 points clear of Huey and Mirnyi in addition to being 630 points ahead of the ninth-place team–2015 World Tour Finals champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.
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