Melbourne: Competing in just their second tour-level event together, Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski lifted the Australian Open men’ doubles trophy in their first major as a team here on Saturday.
The American-British duo defeated home favourites Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans 7-6(4), 6-4 inside Rod Laver Arena to earn a one-hour, 49-minute championship-match triumph to claim the trophy.
Harrison and Skupski, who both competed at last year’s ATP Finals with different partners, joined forces for the first time in Adelaide earlier this month, where they reached the semi-finals. The sixth seeds produced a composed performance in the semifinals to defeat Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, a two-time major-winning team in 2025, 6-3, 7-6(7) for a place in the final.
Wild card pairing Kubler and Polmans battled admirably throughout the final, and they delighted the home fans by rallying from 2-5 in the opening set to force a tie-break. Yet the momentum of the match shifted dramatically after Harrison and Skupski won four consecutive points from 3/4 to move a set ahead.
The sixth-seeded Harrison and Skupski built on that tie-break success by crucially breaking serve in the third game of the second set, and they sealed victory on their second match point after Harrison fired an ace down the T, ATP reports.
Kubler was bidding for his second Australian Open doubles crown after triumphing with Rinky Hijikata, also as wildcards, in 2023. He owned a 14–3 doubles record at his home major, according to the ATP Win/Loss Index, highlighted by his title run in 2023 alongside fellow Australian Hijikata. For Polmans, the final marked his best doubles result at Melbourne Park, surpassing his previous Australian Open high of a semi-final appearance on debut in 2017 with Andrew Whittington.
Earlier on Saturday, Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai, who last played a Grand Slam together at Wimbledon in 2022, defeated Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic 7-6(4), 6-4 to win the women’s doubles crown, what is a ninth Grand Slam doubles title between them in just their seventh career event as a pair.
On Friday, Gadecki and Peers become the first pair in 37 years to defend the Australian Open mixed doubles title.
(IANS)
