Brit Jamie Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares are the latest doubles pairing to qualify for the year-ending Nitto ATP World Tour Finals in O2, London in November. This will be the second year the pair will have qualified.
Mixed beginnings
Murray and Soares started their season with a semifinal showing at the Qatar Open, losing to the champions Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin of France as the number one seeds.
They then made the final down under at the Sydney International, losing to Dutch pair Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middlekoop. Defending Australian Open champs then crashed out at the first hurdle to Americans Sam Querrey and Donald Young in straight sets.
Brit/Brazilian capture first title of the season
The pair began to perform as a doubles team and at the Rio Open, made a semifinal before going on to then win their first title of the season at the Mexican Open beating John Isner and Feliciano Lopez in the final.
The first Masters of the season saw the pair lose 10-7 to Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo in Indian Wells. The two would lose once again to Kubot and Melo the following Masters in Miami at the quarter-final stage.
Catastrophe on Clay
Heading into the European Clay courts, this was arguably their biggest test as a team. Staring at the Barcelona Open, they would fall immediately in three sets to a more equipped Clay team of Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. The Madrid didn't see any improvements as Nicolas Mahut and Roger-Vasselin were to condemn the pair to a second round defeat.
Another first round loss loomed at Masters level with Jack Sock and Isner winning that affair. The French Open would see the pair put in strong performances as they bowed out at the quarter-final stage but to surprise pair and runners up, Santiago Gonzalez and Donald Young.
Season back on track with back-to-back titles
Heading to grass and arguably the duo's preferred and strongest surface. They immediately captured the Stuttgart title and backed that up with another title on grass at the Queen's Club Championships. However, their disappointment in Grand Slams continued further as they fell in the second round as the third seeds to Sam Groth and Robert Lindstedt at Wimbledon.
Washington Open saw a semi final showing from the pair before exiting the Coupe Rogers in the opening round. Third seeds at the Cincinnati Masters would see them defeat three top class doubles team before losing to Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. The final Grand Slam would see the pair lose to champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the quarterfinals.