Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic will take on Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares in the Men’s Doubles final at the US Open this year, with both pairs winning their semifinal clashes on the Louis Armstrong Stadium earlier today.
Eighth seeds Koolhof and Mektic, who were both in the last four of the US Open for the first time, beat Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram in straight sets to reach the biggest Men’s Doubles final of their careers.
The second semifinal saw Soares and Pavic also prevail in straight sets, rallying from 5-3 down in the second set to beat Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.
Koolhof and Mektic oust Australian Open champions
Third seeds Ram and Salisbury were arguably the favorites for the title heading into the semifinals, having won the Australian Open in January and being the highest ranked team left in the draw, and were quickly up a break against the eighth seeds.
Koolhof and Mektic responded with an immediate break back and eventually forced a tiebreak, which they claimed 7-3 thanks to some superb tennis to take a one set lead after just under an hour of action.
Both teams found it difficult to create any opportunities to break through most of set two though, after holding from 0-40 down, the eighth seeds broke for 5-4 and held to seal a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory in an hour and 34 minutes and reach their first Men’s Doubles Grand Slam final.
Pavic and Soares prevail in unseeded battle
Both pairs in the second semifinal were unseeded this year in New York but all four had won Grand Slam titles before, with a combined total of 114 career titles on court, making this an intriguing contest to follow.
Pavic and Soares started brightly, breaking to love in the opening game, and that one break was all they needed as they took the first set 6-4 in 40 minutes without facing a single break point.
Rojer and Tecau, the champions here in 2017, looked to force a decider and broke to give themselves the chance to serve for the set at 5-3, though failed to convert a set point and were broken straight back. That proved to be crucial, with Pavic and Soares breaking once again at 5-5 and closing out a 6-3, 7-5 victory to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time in their partnership.