August 19, 2019 – Croatian tennis player Ivan Dodig and Slovakian partner Filip Polasek are the new Cincinnati Masters doubles champions!
Dodig and Polasek won the doubles competition at the Masters 1000 series ATP tournament in Cincinnati on Sunday after defeating the Colombian top-seed Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the final 4-6, 6-4, 10-6, reports HRT.
Dodig and Polasek didn’t start well and lost a game on their serve in the first game, though it was also the only break they allowed the entire match. Still, that was enough for Cabal and Farah to win the first set.
In the second set, the Croatian-Slovakian combination snagged the serve from the Colombian duo with a 5-4 lead, which automatically secured them the second set. The winner was then forced to be decided in an extended tie-break. The key to the win was the 4-0 series for Dodig and Polasek, who went from 3-3 to 7-3 and held that advantage until the end.
WHAT A MOMENT!
✅ First ? as a team
✅ First #ATPMasters1000 ? as a teamFilip Polasek, who didn’t play pro tennis from November ’13-June ’18, and Ivan Dodig upset top seeds Cabal/Farah 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 in just their fourth event together. pic.twitter.com/nyJNgFyGZW
— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) August 18, 2019
Dodig and Polasek had their first doubles appearance in late June in Antalya, where they reached the final and lost to Jonathan Erlich and Artem Sitak. The duo also played in the Wimbledon semi-final and was relegated in the first round of the tournament in Montreal. However, in their fourth tournament together, they reached their first trophy.
This is Dodig’s 14th doubles title in his career in his 29th final, and the third in 2019, having previously won in Montpellier and Lyon with Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin. For the 34-year-old from Medjugorje, this is the fifth trophy in the Masters 1000 series tournament, and the second in Cincinnati, where he was also the winner in 2016 with Brazilian Marcelo Melo.
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
