Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos Conquer Roland Garros in Doubles
In an exciting final that will be etched in the memory of tennis fans, veterans Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos won the men’s doubles title at the French Open. This victory represents the first Grand Slam for the duo, who combine an age of 79 years.
Granollers, 39, from Spain, along with his Argentinian partner Horacio Zeballos, 40, achieved their long-awaited victory in their fourth Grand Slam final as a pair, but the first at the prestigious clay court tournament.In an encounter full of intensity, they defeated the British pair made up of Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski with a score of 6-0, 6-7 (5), 7-5.
Granollers and Zeballos, who were seeded fifth, had already been runners-up at the 2019 US Open and at Wimbledon in 2021 and 2023.Salisbury and Skupski made history by being the first all-British team to reach the men’s doubles final of a Grand Slam in the Open era (1968). In addition, they marked the return of a British team to the men’s doubles final at Roland Garros since 1936.
The beginning of the match was dominated by Granollers and Zeballos, who achieved a convincing first set. However, Salisbury and Skupski responded, taking the match to a tiebreak in the second set.
The British pair, who had won the only previous encounter between the two teams in the quarterfinals in Rome last month, took the second set in the tiebreak. They were close to taking a 4-3 lead in the deciding set, but a moment of brilliance changed the course of the match.
Salisbury and Skupski fought until the end, but ultimately ran out of steam in the twelfth game. Granollers and Zeballos managed to break serve to secure the victory and celebrated their triumph on the court.Zeballos executed the shot of the match, equalizing the score at deuce in the following game. He ran after a falling ball and sent it around the post at ground level, unleashing the ovation of the audience present on the Philippe Chatrier court.
Alofoke Deportes
