Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori were defeated in the final of the Australian Open by the pair formed by the British Hnery Patten and the Finnish Harry Heliovaara , reigning Wimbledon champions.
The Azzurri lost in over three hours of play, an enormous amount for doubles, with a score of 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 , after being two points away from victory. The first set was a river, with the Italians immediately taking the lead and suffering a counterbreak at 5-4, also due to two invasions by Vavassori. But they prevailed in the tiebreak with a score of 18-16, after having cancelled out 10 set points for their opponents .
In the second set they move forward “on serve”, much faster. No one suffers on his service games and a nice response by Heliovaara decides on 6-5 in the tiebreak . The match at that moment turns, Heliovaara-Patten immediately get the break in the third set and take it to the end , closing 6-3 and winning the second Slam title . This is instead the third final lost for Bolelli and Vavassori, already defeated last year in the final act of the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
In the women's singles, the American Madison Keys won her first career Slam title, surprisingly defeating the Belarusian world number 1 Sabalenka with a score of 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 .
And tomorrow, Sunday 26 January, is the big day for Jannik Sinner , chasing his third Slam title, second in Melbourne, in the final against world number 2 Alexander Zverev. The match, which starts at 9.30 in the morning Italian time , will be broadcast free-to-air on Nove Tv.
(Unioneonline/L)
