Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek won their first Grand Slam title together on Sunday, February 21, taking down defending Australian Open men’s doubles champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, 6-3, 6-4, in the final.
It was the first Grand Slam triumph for Polasek, 35, who came out of retirement in 2018, while Croatia’s Dodig won his second men’s doubles title after winning the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo.
Polasek became only the second Slovakian player to win a Grand Slam after Daniela Hantuchova and dedicated the title to his newborn daughter.
“Since we started to play one and a half years ago, we are really enjoying and playing good tennis,” Dodig said during the trophy ceremony. “We are having a lot of fun and hopefully it is going to continue.”
The duo dominated the final at Rod Laver Arena, breaking their opponents’ serve once in each set during the 88-minute contest.
Such was their domination that they created 15 breakpoint opportunities in the match while not allowing Ram and Salisbury a single look at their own serve.
The defeat denied Ram, 36, a double at Melbourne Park this year after he paired with Barbora Krejcikova to win the mixed doubles title on Saturday.
“Filip, I know it’s your first Grand Slam,” Ram said. “That was way too good. Not sure what we could have done any different, so you guys played awesome.”
Ram, Krejcikova storm to mixed doubles crown
American Rajeev Ram and Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova captured their second major title as a pair after defeating local wildcards Matthew Ebden and Samantha Stosur in the mixed doubles final on Saturday.
The sixth seeds dominated from start to finish and did not drop serve in the match as they cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 victory in 59 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena, bringing the surprise run of the hometown pair to an end.
It marks Krejcikova’s third straight mixed doubles title at Melbourne Park after she triumphed with Ram in 2019 and Nikola Mektic last year, capping a successful fortnight for the Czech, who also reached the women’s doubles final with compatriot Katerina Siniakova, losing to Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka.
Mertens, Sabalenka rule women’s doubles
Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka beat Czech pair Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, 6-2, 6-3, to win the women’s doubles title on Friday for their second Grand Slam trophy together.
Seeded second at Melbourne Park, the pair won their maiden major at the 2019 US Open and the victory at the Rod Laver Arena was their fifth title overall.
However, they will not be teaming up at Grand Slam events for the rest of 2021 as Sabalenka wants to focus on singles.
“I’m just trying to put my whole focus on singles,” Sabalenka told reporters, adding that the pair will be playing WTA events in Dubai and Miami next.
“I know that doubles, it’s not that hard, you’re not moving that much than on singles.
“It still takes a lot of energy. I just want to save it for singles,” added Sabalenka, who is ranked No.7 in the world in singles.
Belgian Mertens, ranked 16th in singles, and Sabalenka of Belarus exited the Australian Open women’s singles draw in the fourth round.
In Friday’s doubles final, the pair wasted 3 championship points before Sabalenka set up a fourth with an ace and they wrapped up the match when Siniakova sent a backhand wide.
They celebrated with their signature leap together while holding the trophy.
“We had a tough draw actually in doubles, so we’re really happy that we pulled through,” said Mertens. “Some days … like today, we just kept on fighting.” – Rappler.com
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.