Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares will end the year as the number one doubles team in the world.
French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut saw their number one ranking challenge end with defeat at the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday.
They lost 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 10-4 to Henri Kontinen and John Peers in their final group match in London.
Herbert and Mahut, who failed to reach the semi-finals, trail Murray and Soares by 25 points.
Murray and Soares are assured of topping the ATP doubles team rankings for 2016, and the Brazilian could overtake Mahut in the doubles individual rankings if they win the title.
Murray, speaking to BBC Two shortly after finding out the news, said: “It’s very exciting. It’s a strange way to do it in the end but we’ve had a great year and won some big tournaments.”
