Wimbledon champions Henry Patten, of Colchester, and Harri Heliovaara, of Helsinki, have won their second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
It seemed like it was not to be after they missed 10 set points in an epic first set. The Italian duo Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori took that 18-16 in a 20-minute tiebreak.
But the British/Finnish duo kept plugging away and they were deserved winners – wrapping it up 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 at 1.42am on Saturday morning.
It has been an incredible story for two players who only began working together last April and are now double Grand Slam champions.
‘What an evening,’ said Patten after collecting the trophy.
‘Firstly I want to thank everybody who stayed out here and watched us play. You guys are a little bit crazy but I love you for it.
Henry Patten (left) and Harri Heliovaara (right) have won the men’s doubles title in Australia
It marks the second doubles grand slam title the pair have won together after Wimbledon
There were joyous scenes on court as they fought back from losing an epic opening set
‘Now for Harri, what a journey we’ve been on. It’s really special to share the court with you.’
The match was scheduled after the women’s final, so after that went to three sets and the doubles took three hours, only the hardiest souls were still on Rod Laver Arena to watch the title be won.
After the match, Patten described why their partnership has been so instantly fruitful.
‘I like Harri, and Harri likes me,’ he said. ‘We get along very well and our personalities complement each other very well on court.
‘Harri is the energy guy. His job is to fire himself up to fire me up.
‘My job is to be the big, hard-hitting, calm guy. Those two things apparently work very, very well together.’
