Top Seeds Cabal/Farah Take The Trophy In New York

For the second straight Grand Slam, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah have created Colombian history.

After becoming the first players from their nation to lift a men’s doubles Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July, the top seeds became the first South American pairing in the Open Era to win the US Open on Friday with a 6-4, 7-5 victory against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

Cabal and Farah fired 32 winners in the one-hour, 31-minute encounter to capture their 16th tour-level team title and improve to 45-13 this year. After falling short of the trophy in their opening 30 Grand Slam appearances as a pairing, Cabal and Farah are now the second team in as many years to complete the Wimbledon-US Open double.

The Colombians follow in the footsteps of Mike Bryan and Jack Sock, who swept the last two major titles of the 2018 season. Prior to last year, the most recent team to win Wimbledon and US Open in the same year was Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge in 2003.

Cabal and Farah’s title in New York solidifies their position as the top team in the ATP Doubles Race To London. The top seeds, who improve to 5-2 in tour-level championship matches this year, add 2,000 ATP Doubles Rankings points to their total (7,940) to take a 4,495-point lead over second-placed Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo (3,445). Cabal and Farah will also split $740,000 for their run to the trophy.

The two-time Grand Slam champions dropped just one set en route to the title in New York, coming from a set down in the second round to defeat British duo Daniel Evans and Cameron Norrie. Cabal and Farah beat three seeded pairings during their fortnight at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Alongside Granollers and Zeballos, the Colombians also overcame 13th seeds Robin Haase and Wesley Koolhof in the third round and 15th seeds Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski in the semi-finals.

Granollers and Zeballos were bidding to extend their 10-0 unbeaten record as a team by lifting their maiden Grand Slam title together. In their only previous appearance as a team, the Spanish-Argentine tandem won the Coupe Rogers in Montreal.

Granollers and Zeballos rise to No. 10 in the ATP Doubles Race to London after adding 1,200 ATP Doubles Ranking points to their collection in New York. With 2,200 points, the US Open finalists are just 370 points behind Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who occupy the eighth and final Nitto ATP Finals qualification spot. Granollers and Zeballos also share $370,000 for reaching the championship match.

Did You Know
This is the seventh consecutive Grand Slam event where the men’s doubles title has been won by a pair of players from the same nation.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2zZUypb