John Peers/Matwe Middelkoop, who lost to Yuki Bhambri/J.P. Smith in Saturday’s round robin, avenged their earlier defeat by winning Sunday’s Clearwater Bay Champions Cup 2024 final 6-4 7-5. In fact, Peers/Middelkoop lost twice on Saturday before they laboured into the final with a hard-fought, come from behind 4-6 7-5 [10-6] semifinal win over Ray Ho/Matthew Romios. In the playoff for third, Ho/Romios beat Chinese Taipei’s Huang Tsung-Hao/Hsu Yu-Hsiou 6-3 6-4.
In the final, Smith lost serve early in the third game, as did Peers in the fourth, but Bhambri then yielded his in the following game to hand back the advantage. It is with this crucial break that Peers/Middelkoop, who had been returning serve exceptionally well today, took the opening set 6-4.
Bhambri/Smith threatened to break early on in the second set, but Middelkoop saved a break point with a well-struck forehand half-volley from the baseline to make it 1-1. Peers then saved another break point with a good first serve to even at 2-2. Bhambri’s serve was under siege in the seventh game but a first serve winner from the deuce court enabled him to hold on to go up 4-3. Smith then produced a string of first serves to hold for 5-4. Middelkoop served well again to hold for 5-5 to put pressure back on Bhambri/Smith.
Bhambri double faulted to fall behind 0-40 and although he managed to save the first break point with a forehand down the line, a Peers forecourt intercept was sufficient to secure a 6-5 lead for the Aussie-Dutch duo. Peers double faulted on match point when leading 40-30 but made amends with a great swerving second serve down the tee to set up a volley winner for his partner.
Game, set, and match Peers/Middelkoop 6-4 7-5. Full Results
Partnering Chris Eaton, Peers won here in 2015 when he was ranked No. 8 in the world. The Aussie then went on to capture the Australian Open in 2017 and added two ATP Finals and four Masters 1000 titles. He was ranked as high as No. 2 in 2017. He came to Clearwater Bay this year having won Basel, Belgrade, two Challengers, and the men’s doubles gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics where he paired up with Matthew Ebden to beat Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the final 6-7(6) 7-6(1) [10-8].
Middelkoop, who turned pro in 2002, peaked at No. 18 in February 2023 having won 14 ATP doubles titles in his career.
In last year’s final, Yuki Bhambri/Ramkumar Ramanathan defeated J.P. Smith/Andrew Harris 6-4 1–6 11-9.
Earlier in the round robins, the top four teams of J.P. Smith/Yuki Bhambri (4-0), John Peers/Matwe Middelkoop (2-2), Ray Ho/Matthew Romios (2-2), and Huang Tsung-Hao/Hsu Yu-Hsiou (2-2) qualified for the knockout stage.
Prize purse this year totalled more than HK$500,000, with the winning pair receiving $240,000. When Benny Lin/Stephen So won the inaugural title in 2003, they split a grand sum of $16,000.
Photo courtesy of CBGCC