London, July 14 (IANS) Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten won one of the most dramatic Wimbledon doubles finals in history when they saved three championship points to defeat Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.
In a contest of the finest of margins, Heliovaara and Patten required a hard-fought two hours and 49 minutes to record their 6-7(7), 7-6(8), 7-6 (11-9) win.
Purcell and Thompson were the fourth seeded team they defeated in their giant-killing run.
Heliovaara stopped playing tennis 11 years ago due to injury. He then earned a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree from Aalton University in a bit less than four years and worked at Helsinki Airport at 5 am each morning to serve as a passenger guide. He made his comeback in 2017 and has since won seven tour-level doubles titles.
The 28-year-old Patten, who worked as a statistician at the 2016 and 2017 Championships, combined with Heliovaara to claim the 2024 gentleman’s doubles title.
He becomes only the third British man of the Open era – alongside Jonathan Marray in 2012 and Neal Skupski in 2023 – to lift the trophy. The 35-year-old Heliovaara is the first Finnish man in history to win the title.
Heliovaara and Patten teamed up for the first time in April and quickly gelled as a partnership; taking in ATP title runs at Marrakech and Lyon, they entered Saturday’s final with wins in 28 of the 32 matches they’d played.
–IANS
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