In the second of the semifinals, seventh-seeded Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram romped to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in an hour. They will face Henri Kontinen and John Peers who came through their semifinal earlier. This win meant that neither Murray or Soares could finish as the individual year-end number one with Nicolas Mahut becoming the first French player to achieve that feat in singles or doubles.
Klaasen/Ram run away with the first set
Klaasen and Ram stamped their intent from the start. With Ram and Murray holding serve, the South African was put under a bit of pressure as he was taken to a deciding point. A return long by Soares made it 2-1. From then on in it was all the seventh seeds. Ram forced an unforced error from the second seeds to bring up two break points at 40-30. Murray managed to save the first one but Ram fired a forehand into the body of the Brazilian to get the first break of the set.
The American consolidated as he and Klaasen were in cruise control at 4-1. Murray and Soares looked like a pair with no answers and once again, found themselves facing break points, this time three of them following a forehand winner from Ram. The 34-year-old's return game was strong as he aimed a forehand return to the feet of the Brit who simply had no answers. The seventh seeds quickly ran away to a 40-15 lead, clinching the first set, 6-1.
Klaasen/Ram hold off fight from second seeds to advance to the final
With the momentum firmly with the seventh seeds, they made sure to make it count. Right from the off they gained a double break point. Klaasen missed a backhand down the line as they missed their first chance of breaking. But Murray sent a volley long with Klaasen/Ram breaking.
The South African, American duo consolidated the break to take a 2-0 lead. More break points came as Soares served a double-fault to set up a deciding point. The second seeds avoided going even further behind as they won the point and held another tricky game. It was Klaasen and Ram's turn to faced some pressure on serve.
With a game point to their name, Soares fired an aggressive return winner which forced the error to bring up a break/deciding point. Klaasen hit an accurate first serve towards Murray who netted and they held for 3-1. The second seeds found a bit of fight in them and after a mini exchange at the net, Soares forced the error as he and Murray broke back for 3-3.
However, their spirits were well and truly broken just a game later with the seventh seeds breaking straight back to go ahead again at 4-3. Both teams held serve and now serving for the set, Ram and Klaasen had one match point saved at love-40 but Klaasen sealed the victory and booked their place in the final.