PARIS – Veterans Marcel Granolas and Holocio Zeboros won the final Saturday of the French Open Doubles in their first major title in total at the age of 79.
The 39-year-old Granollers from Spain and the 40-year-old Argentine partner played in their fourth Grand Slam Final as a pairing, but initially in the clay court majors. They beat British pairs Joe Salisbury and Neil Scopski 6-0, 6-7 (5), 7-5.
Granollers and Zeballos, the fifth sown in Paris, were runner-up at the US Open in 2019 and at Wimbledon in 2021 and 2023.
Salisbury and Skupski were the first British teams since 1936 to reach the Grand Slam Men’s Doubles Final in the Grand Slam Men’s Doubles Final (1968) at Open Era (1968) and reach the British men’s doubles finalist.
The Granollers and Zeballos dominated early, slamming their 8th seed opponent in the opening set and dragging them into the next dogfight.
Salisbury and Skupski, who won only previous tour-level encounters between the two teams in the Rome quarterfinals last month, were close to building a 4-3 lead in the decider before the magical moment by winning a second set tiebreak.
Zeballos hit the match shot to level up with Deuce in the next game, chasing after the dipball, squeezing it around the posts at ground level, and cheering loudly from the small crowd of Court Philippe Chatrier.
Salisbury and Skupski refused to fight before running out of gas in the 12th game.
The Granollers and Zeballos broke their love to secure victory and fell to the ground at the celebration.
The report used information from the Associated Press and Reuters.
