LONDON: The second-year pairing of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau has clinched the year-end No. 1 Emirates ATP Doubles Team Ranking for the first time, halting Bob and Mike Bryan’s six-year run atop the charts.

The Dutch-Romanian duo is guaranteed the year-end No. 1 honour by winning their semi-final match-up against the Americans 6-4, 6-4 at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Had the Bryans won Saturday's winner-takes-all clash, they would have ended the year No. 1.

Rojer and Tecau will now face Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea in Sunday’s final at The O2 in London.

“It feels pretty darn good right about now,” said Rojer. “There was so much riding on this match for us. We put in a lot of hard work, like many of the other teams do, of course. To have it come down to one match to play for the year-end No. 1 spot, it’s just a dream scenario. On top of that, to win it with a lot of our friends and family here, it’s just really cool.”

“We’re very happy to get this award,” said Tecau, a resident of Constanta, Romania. “But we have to snap out of it quick, because we have a difficult match tomorrow. I’m playing against my countryman Florin. We know each other really well. I’m really excited to play the final here against him. It’s a big achievement for our country.”

Rojer and Tecau made a strong start to the season in Australia, finishing as runners-up in Sydney (l. to Bopanna/Nestor) and reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open (l. to Bolelli/Fognini). They captured their first title of 2015 in Rotterdam (d. Murray/Peers) before a runner-up finish in Nice (l. to Pavic/Venus) and reaching the Roland Garros semi-finals (l. to Dodig/Melo).

Their crowning achievement came at SW19 as they lifted their first Grand Slam trophy at The Championships, Wimbledon (d. Murray/Peers). They would later reach the quarter-finals at the US Open (l. to Herbert/Mahut).