Jonny Marray & Freddie Nielsen bowed out at the semi-final stages of the ATP World Tour Finals after a straight sets defeat at The O2 arena on Sunday evening.
In their final match together this year, Britain’s Marray and Denmark’s Nielsen were overcome by Spanish duo Marcell Granollers & Marc Lopez 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 17 minutes, despite actually winning one more point than their opponents.
"I'm disappointed," said Marray afterwards. "Personally I felt like I could have played better. We had a lot of chances, a few sudden death deuces but it comes down to playing the big points well. It's the important ones that matter."
Having been defeated by Marray & Nielsen in the opening round of Wimbledon, Granollers & Lopez gained a foothold almost immediately, breaking the Dane’s serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead.
The Anglo/Danish duo had their chances to keep the set alive, taking four games in the opener to a deciding deuce point, however they could not break and an ace from Granollers sealed the opening set.
In the fifth game of the second set Nielsen was broken again and the all-Spanish team took the 3-2 lead.
The 2012 Wimbledon Champions looked like they were back in the match after Lopez pushed a volley long to even to 3-3, however the Spaniards broke straight back on another sudden death point after Granollers hit a stunning winner forehand past Nielsen at the net.
In the final game of the match, a double fault from Nielsen set up two match points, the first one was saved but Lopez took the match with a winner down the middle of the court.
As his tournament and season came to a close Marray reflected on the week: "It's been amazing. Playing in front of home crowds, the stadium speaks for itself, all the razzmatazz, flashing lights. It motivates you to want to come back next year. It's been a fantastic year for British sport, and it's been great to have been a part of it."
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