London, July 11 (IANS) Henry Patten became the first British man to win two Wimbledon men’s doubles titles in the Open era after partnering Harri Heliovaara to victory over El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic of Croatia in the final at Wimbledon in London on Saturday.

In a serve-dominated match with no break points, the Anglo-Finnish partnership triumphed 7-6(4), 7-6(3). Patten and Heliovaara, the top seeds, first won the title here in 2024 and also lifted the trophy at the 2025 Australian Open.

Heliovaara and Patten became the first men’s doubles team to claim multiple Wimbledon crowns since Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan did so in 2011. They are the 11th team in the Open Era to achieve the feat. “It’s surreal,” said Colchester-born Patten, who served an ace on the second match point. “When we won the first time, we didn’t know if we would have the opportunity to ever experience this again. We just feel so lucky to be out here again.”

Heliovaara thanked the British player “for being the best partner in the world.”

Four other British men have won the Wimbledon gentlemen’s doubles title in the Open era – Jonathan Marray (with Frederik Nielsen in 2012), Neal Skupski (with Wesley Koolhof in 2023), and Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, who won the title here last year.

Across the fortnight, the champions won three final-set tie-breaks, battling past Mac Kiger and Patrik Thrac in the second round, Adam Pavlasek and Patrik Rikl in the third round, and eighth seeds Guido Andreozzi and Manuel Guinard in the quarter-finals. They won eight of their nine tie-breaks in The Championships.

Patten crushed an ace down the T in the Ad court to claim their third major trophy as a team, having also emerged victorious at Wimbledon in 2024 and at last year’s Australian Open. The lefty Patten is the first British men’s doubles player in the Open Era to lift the Wimbledon trophy more than once.

There were no breakpoints for either team in the match. Heliovaara and Patten won 41 of their 45 first-serve points (91%) to avoid falling under pressure.

This was a rematch of the Queen’s Club final, which Arevalo and Pavic won 6-2, 6-4. In that match, Heliovaara and Patten won just 56 per cent of their first-serve points.

Heliovaara and Patten now lead Arevalo and Pavic 6-3 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, including a 4-1 record this year. Arevalo won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Jelena Ostapenko.

“Just want to say thank you to everybody who showed up today to support. I think it was a great match,” Arevalo said. “I want to take the time to congratulate Henry and Harry on these amazing two weeks, on getting a title here again.”

–IANS

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