CAPE TOWN, June 23 (ANA) – While South Africa’s Kevin Anderson has steadily fallen down the ATP singles rankings to 24th, Raven Klaasen has moved up to a career-best 16th in the doubles rankings.
Anderson, plagued by injury this year, has won just four matches in 2016 after reaching a career-high of 10th in the world last year.
Klaasen, 33, on Sunday defended his title at the ATP 500 Gerry Weber tournament with partner Rajeev Ram.
"There was extra pressure going into the Halle tournament as reigning champions against a strong field to contend with in Germany’s grasscourt event," said Klaasen, "because we stood to lose the 500 ranking points we had gained at the tournament last year.
"But I told Rajeev, look let’s approach the games in the same way as last year and do everything the same way – and it worked.
"The first set in the final was tightly-fought with no service breaks," he added, "and could have gone either way.
"It needed a little bit of luck to take the set in the tie-breaker and fortunately it came our way. Winning the first set gave us the confidence to take control in the second set."
Klaasen and partner Rajeev Ram recently successfully defended their doubles title at the ATP Gerry Weber Open in Germany yesterday, streaking past second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya 7-6 and 6-2.
