El Salvador\u2019s Marcelo Ar\u00e9valo and Croatian partner Mate Pavi\u0107 have secured their place in the 2026 ATP Finals for the third consecutive year, although their preparations suffered a setback Wednesday when they lost their opening doubles match at the Vienna Open. The third-seeded pair fell 7-6 (8), 7-5 to Argentina\u2019s Francisco Cer\u00fandolo and Tom\u00e1s Mart\u00edn Etcheverry in a match lasting two hours and 27 minutes. <\/p>\n
The result came just two days after the ATP confirmed that Ar\u00e9valo and Pavi\u0107 had earned one of the eight doubles spots at the season-ending championship in Turin, Italy.Despite the Vienna defeat, the qualification marks another successful season for the Salvadoran, who has established himself among the leading doubles players in professional tennis.<\/p>\n
Ar\u00e9valo and Pavi\u0107 had recorded 39 tour-level victories together when their qualification was announced Monday. Their best result of the season came in June at Queen\u2019s Club in London, where they defeated Finland\u2019s Harri Heli\u00f6vaara and Britain\u2019s Henry Patten to capture their first title of 2026.<\/p>\n
The pair also reached the Wimbledon doubles final<\/a> in July but lost to Heli\u00f6vaara and Patten in two tiebreaks. Additional runner-up finishes in Montreal, Monte-Carlo and Dubai helped them accumulate enough ranking points to qualify for Turin before the final tournaments of the regular season.<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s result in Vienna was a notable upset. Cer\u00fandolo<\/a> and Etcheverry<\/a>, better known for their singles careers, recovered from first-round singles defeats earlier in the week to eliminate one of the established doubles teams on the ATP Tour.The Argentines held their nerve in a closely contested opening set, winning the tiebreak 10-8 before securing the decisive break of serve in the second set.<\/p>\n For Ar\u00e9valo, the larger objective remains the ATP Finals, where he and Pavi\u0107 will attempt to improve on their runner-up finish in 2024. That year, the pair reached the championship match before losing to Germany\u2019s Kevin Krawietz and Tim P\u00fctz. They returned in 2025 but failed to advance beyond the group stage.<\/p>\n The Salvadoran and Croatian have been partners since the beginning of 2024. They won the French Open doubles championship that year and finished the season as the world\u2019s top-ranked doubles team. Their return to Turin also extends Ar\u00e9valo\u2019s presence at the highest level of the sport, giving Central America another representative at one of professional tennis\u2019s most exclusive events.<\/p>\n