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Unseeded team also triumphed in Dubai this year

John Peers and Michael Venus became the second team to win multiple ATP Tour titles this year, beating Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the Hamburg European Open trophy on Sunday.

The unseeded pairing added a second ATP 500 title to its collection after 67 minutes, saving five of six break points to defeat the 2017 champions. Peers and Venus, who own a 14-6 team record, claimed their maiden team title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February. They joined forces at the ASB Classic in January.

“It has been a great week here. [It was the] perfect preparation going into next week in Paris,” said Venus. “We got plenty of quality matches. It was a really tough draw. We are really excited and hopefully we can keep building on it.”

Last week’s Rome semi-finalists join Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos as the only teams to win multiple ATP Tour titles this year. Peers and Venus recovered from 3-6, 3-5 down and saved a match point against Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the semi-finals.

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Peers improves to 3-0 in Hamburg championship matches. The Aussie claimed back-to-back titles at the event in 2015 (w/J. Murray) and 2016 (w/Kontinen). Venus adds a 12th tour-level crown to his collection.

“I enjoy coming back to Hamburg,” said Peers. “It is always a good city to come back to and I actually enjoyed playing on the Centre Court. It is a lot of fun. We just continue to build and keep working hard week-to-week and day-to-day. It has been really good to get through the tough draw here, [with] quality matches every time. For us to play the level we did was fantastic.”

Dodig and Pavic were making their first appearance as a team since reaching the semi-finals in Hamburg last year. The Croatian team drops to 2-3 in tour-level championship matches.

“We just hung in there [and] played a really clean, really good first set,” said Venus. “Then, to be honest, we got lucky to break back in the second set and just took our chances when we had them. I just thought we kept going, not really worried about the score and just kept playing tennis and kept going and competing. I think that was the difference today.”

Peers and Venus earn 500 FedEx ATP Doubles Ranking points and share €30,530 in prize money. Dodig and Pavic gain 300 points and split €24,270.

Vote now on vote.tennisfame.com

The polls are now open in the International Tennis Hall of Fame 2021 Fan Vote presented by BNP Paribas.

Two former singles World No. 1s Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Carlos Ferrero, former doubles No. 1 Jonas Bjorkman, two-time Roland Garros champion Sergi Bruguera and WTA doubles great Lisa Raymond have been nominated for 2021 induction.

Hewitt, who won the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon crowns, said: “I’m incredibly honoured and grateful to receive this nomination. I had so many great Australians to look up to while I was coming up in the sport. To know that my career is up for consideration to be recognized alongside the likes of Hall of Famers Tony Roche, John Newcombe, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, and so many other greats who I admired is just an amazing honour.

“I’m also excited to be part of the Hall of Fame’s Fan Voting program. The fans played such a massive role in my careers in terms of energy and support, and its nice to be able to go through this important moment in my career with them as well. I hope to see many fans, of both mine and the other great candidates, getting involved in the vote.”

Fans can voice their opinions over who deserves Hall of Fame induction until 25 October at vote.tennisfame.com.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame is one of just two sports halls of fame where fans’ votes can have a direct impact on a candidate’s induction, as the top-three vote getters in the Fan Vote will receive bonus percentage points on their Official Voting Group result. The candidate with the highest result in the Fan Vote will receive three additional percentage points, while second and third place will receive two and one additional percentage points, respectively.

The ballot will go before the Official Voting Group, comprised of tennis journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers. To be elected into the Hall of Fame, a candidate must receive an affirmative vote in 75 per cent or higher of ballots submitted from the Official Voting Group or a combined total of 75 per cent or higher from their Voting Group result and any bonus percentage points earned in the Fan Vote.

The results of the ITHF Fan Vote will be announced at the conclusion of the voting period. The Class of 2021 Inductees will be announced in early 2021 with the Induction Ceremony slated to take place 17 July 2021.