Third seed Pavić and Hurkacz defeated first-placed German Tim Puetz and New Zealand’s Michael Venus 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) after an hour and a half, reports Slobodna Dalmacija.
The man from Split and the Pole had 13 aces, ten more than their opponents, and it is interesting that they did not offer Puetz and Venus a single tie break.
For Pavić, this is the 29th doubles tournament won, and Pavić and Hurkacz played together for the first time in Stuttgart and immediately reached a triumph on the grass.
Let us remind you that this year Pavić, paired with the Croatian Nikola Mektić, won two national ATP tournaments, in Rome and Geneva, while the two of them still played in the finals in Dubai and Belgrade.
On the ATP ranking, Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić finished 2021 as the world’s best doubles team. Only American Rajeev Ram and Briton Joe Salisbury threatened to catch Pavić and Mektić, though thanks to the outcome of the Paris Masters, the Croatian duo was unattainable.
It was the third time Pavić finished the year as part of the world’s best doubles team, and Nikola Mektić is the third partner with whom Pavić reached the top. Last year, Pavić and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares were named #1, and in 2018, he was the best in combination with Austrian partner Oliver Marach.
“I’m thrilled. True, this is my third time in the last four years with a third partner, but I achieved it for the first time with a Croatian, which is a great achievement for us personally, but also for Croatian tennis in general,” said Mate Pavić in a statement from ATP Tour at that time.
To read more about sports in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
