pen enxh Open onIt was the pairs first Grand Slam doubles title, with the German players creating quite a wave on the challenger circuit, winning titles such as Tour Heilbronn, and 8 other challenger titles.
Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin had a more challenging route to the final seeing off pairings such as Cabal and Farah, and Kubot and Melo, former French Open champions. However, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies had beaten the likes of Pella and Schwartzman on route to the final which was hard in itself.
The German pair prior to the French Open have also won New York Open earlier in February this year.
Out the gates quickly
The German pairing of Krawietz and Mies are of course no strangers, having played together 8 times before reaching the semi-finals in the Geneva Open which is part of the 250 series.
It was on Martin's serve first who is the more experienced doubles player out of the two Frenchman. Although both have played together before winning 3 titles between them having once beaten the established pairing of Henri Kontinen and John Peers. The first serve was returned with some interest from Krawietz, with Chardy also failing to put away a relatively simple volley. It was a re-occurring theme of the game with Meiz also hitting strong returns back to Martin, the French duo just couldn't get their feet off the ground.
The next game proved to be more of a contest with some big hitting from Chardy and Martin alike. Despite the French threat, Krawietz managed to hold serve with some powerful first serves, holding the game to 30 and racing into a 2-0 lead over the crowd favorites.
The next game was another break of serve this time on Chardy's serve, even though the French duo managed to save a break point it just wasn't enough with 2 unforced errors coming off Chardy's racket gifting Krawietz and Martin the game, 3-0 up and serving this was truly unprecedented and not something the jovial crowd expected from their players. The next game was a routine service hold from Meiz to 15 with no answers from the French pair, 4-0 advantage Germany.
The first set was one-way traffic going in favour of Meiz and Miller, Chardy and Martin never really dictated. First set ends 6-2.
If stats were damming enough, the low 53 percent of first serve points won for the French said it all, compared to the high 87 percent of points won for the Germans.
Nerves of steel
The second set was a different narrative completely. Like when a football coach talks his team into playing better this happened with Chardy and Martin.
A key game was 2-1 where Mies managed to hold serve, avoiding the break from the French pair. Although this early on this was big and meant something. Before it seemed the French pairing were down and out but they were now up and kicking.
What followed was what felt like proper doubles, quick-paced tennis, the crowd were getting into it more to.
The same sort of pattern happened in the following games with quick serving and volleying, no one conceding.
It finally came down to the dreaded set tiebreak, no doubles player likes playing these.
The first point was a powerful serve from Chardy and inch-perfect volley from Martins. Good start for the French. It did go on serve, and 2-2 Matins put a hard unreturnable serve out wide to Mies who cannot put a racket to it. Martin then orchestrates the crowd. This was tennis at its best, high quality- the crowd now fully immersed in the match.
Finally a break on serve, Krawietz returns a body serve from Chardy with a crosscourt backhand forcing the Frenchman out wide, who didn't expect such a return to come back at him. The score was now 5-3 in favor of the Germans.
A good serve from Chardy is returned with interest from Krawietz, they have a back and forth until Mies intercepts with an exquisite drop volley, they are now up 6-3, match point.
Krawietz was tasked with serving it out, first serve goes in, Chardy returns Krawietz hits the ball to Martin who then sets up Mies for a smash, of course it was going to be converted. Game over, the first time a paid have won the French Open on their debut, a brilliant day for these two who will now be known more. French Open doubles final 2019 finishes 6-2, 7-6, with a performance nothing short of brilliant from Krawietz and Mies.