PARIS (Reuters) – El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo became the first player from central America to claim a Grand Slam title when he paired up with Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands to win the men’s doubles final at the French Open on Saturday.
Arevalo and Rojer, seeded 12th, beat Croatian Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 after saving three match points and converting their only break chance.
At last year’s U.S. Open, Arevalo was the first player from central America to take part in a final at a major.
On Saturday, he converted his second opportunity with a gritty performance on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Dodig and Krajicek, who had come from a set down to eliminate top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the quarter-finals, did not face a single break point in the opening set.
Their opponents saved five but conceded the set in the tiebreak as the unseeded duo remained strong on serve.
The second set was a carbon copy of the first until the tiebreak, when Arevalo and Rojer made the most of their chances.
They finally broke for 4-2 in the decider and held throughout, ending it with a service game to love.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
