Patten and Heliovaara claim Wimbledon men’s doubles crown in straight sets

WIMBLEDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s Henry Patten and Finland’s Harri Heliovaara captured the Wimbledon men’s doubles championship on Saturday, beating Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) in the final.

The top-seeded duo now hold three Grand Slam doubles titles as partners. They lifted the Wimbledon trophy in 2024 and added the Australian Open last year.

In the Open era, they become only the 11th pairing to collect more than one men’s doubles title at the All England Club, and the first to do so since Bob and Mike Bryan secured a second triumph there in 2011.

Arevalo, who is from El Salvador, had already left Wimbledon with silverware this fortnight. On Thursday he and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko took the mixed doubles crown.

Patten and Heliovaara’s path to the final was demanding. Three of their five matches went to deciding-set tie-breaks, and they had prevailed in six of the seven tie-breaks they faced before Saturday. That composure under pressure again settled the championship match.

The win also settled a score from June, when they fell to the same opponents in the Queen’s Club final. After the last point, Heliovaara marked the moment with a dramatic forward roll on Centre Court, while Patten stretched out on his back to take it in.

“I owe Harri my career, when we started out he took a chance on me,” Patten said.