Indian Wells: Nikola Mektić and Horacio Zeballos Claim Men’s Doubles Title!

A fantastic success of Nikola Mektić in Indian Wells! The Zagreb tennis player and his Argentinian doubles partner Horacio Zeballos are the winners of this year’s Masters 1000 Series Tournament in Indian Wells. The duo celebrated in the final against Polish player Lukasz Kubot and Brazilian Marcelo Melo – 4:6, 6:4, 10:3, reports HTS on March 17, 2019. 

That feeling of winning an #ATPMasters1000 title! @NMektic @HoracioZeballos | #BNPP19

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) March 17, 2019

After losing the first set, Mektić and Zeballos did not face a break until the end of the match, and once they took their opponents service in the 10th game, they equalized in sets. 

In the decisive tie-break, they started with an advantage of 5:1 and pulled through until the end of the match. 

Nikola has thus claimed his sixth career title (in 11 finals), and second in the Masters 1000 Series tournaments after Madrid last year, which he won with Austrian partner Alexander Pey.

The success of Mektić and Zeballos is even more significant because this is only the second tournament the duo has played together. Recall, on their way to the triumph they had a challenging draw and even had to overcome the best doubles team in the world! In the 2nd round of the tournament, they also saved two match points against French duo Herbert and Mahout.

“I cannot believe that we won Indian Wells. After the winning point, we looked at each other in disbelief, as if this is at all possible. Now we know that we can get everyone as a doubles team,” said the Zagreb native. 

As winners, Mektić and Zeballos added 1000 points to their ranking and have won a $457,000 cash prize. Mektić also became the first Croatian to claim the title in the Californian desert after Ivan Ljubičić defeated Andy Roddick in the final in 2010 to become the first Croat ever to win Indian Wells. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

 

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