Jamie Murray’s year came to an end at the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals as he and Bruno Soares were beaten in straight sets by Henri Kontinen and John Peers.
Australia’s Peers – a former doubles partner of Murray – and Kontinen took the opening set on a tie break before rattling through the second 6-2 to book their place in Sunday’s final.
Murray and Soares, winners of two Grand Slam titles in 2016 and ranked fourth in the world as a pair, had beaten the top seeds on Friday to make the semi-finals.
And they looked to have continued that form into Saturday as they took the second seeds into a first set tie break.
Their opponents took it to two, though, and from then on it was plain sailing for Kontinen – who won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Brit Heather Watson in 2016 – and Peers.
The Australian-Finnish pairing were just too powerful for Murray and Soares, blasting through their opponents’ defences at the net.
The world number two duo faced just one break point during the encounter, losing only three points on serve in total.
And in the end it was their serves that proved the decisive factor as Murray and Soares could not hit back after theirs was broken twice in the final set.
The British-Brazilian pairing will now finish their year as the world’s fourth-ranked pairing.
Sportsbeat 2017