Britain’s Henry Patten and Finland’s Harri Heliovaara triumphed over Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson with a score of 6-7(7) 7-6(8) 7-6(11-9) in an intense men’s doubles final at Wimbledon on Saturday, securing their first grand slam titles.
The unseeded pair of Patten and Heliovaara, who began playing together just three months ago, defeated several seeded teams on their way to the final. They faced the Australian pair who had previously eliminated top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the semifinals.
Amazingly, there were no breaks of serve throughout the match, with each set decided by a tiebreak. Under mounting pressure, Patten and Heliovaara saved three championship points in the second set to push the match to a deciding set.
After nearly three hours on court, Patten, a former Wimbledon statistician, and his Finnish partner barely edged out the Australians in a thrilling match, earning a standing ovation from the Centre Court audience.
“You’re all amazing out there. It couldn’t have been a closer match. I can’t really remember what happened. I’m sure Harri’s the same,” Patten said.
For Patten, this was his first time advancing past the third round at a grand slam event. Heliovaara, who had reached two quarter-finals before, was overwhelmed with emotion and was seen sobbing on the court.
“I admit we got a bit lucky today but sometimes we need luck to win a tennis match… The tears say it all, it’s very emotional,” Heliovaara remarked.
The first set was both entertaining and nerve-wracking, with the Australian team almost unbeatable on serve, losing only two points. Patten and Heliovaara matched their performance. In the tiebreak, despite initial errors that gave the Australians five set points, Patten’s resilience saved four of them, though the Australians eventually took the set as Heliovaara’s return narrowly missed.
The second set saw Purcell and Thompson continue serving strongly. Patten and Heliovaara had no breaking answers, and the set remained on serve until 6-5. The Australians earned the first break point of the match, a championship point on Heliovaara’s serve, but Patten’s skillful volley saved it and forced another tiebreak.
During the tiebreak, Patten and Heliovaara saved additional championship points amidst tense rallies, eventually claiming the second set to force a final decider, much to the delight of the roaring crowd.
The final set mirrored the earlier ones with strong serves but included more rallies. Refusing to relent, Patten and Heliovaara outlasted Purcell and Thompson, collapsing to their knees upon victory.
“I’m devastated. We were so close, we had championship points… This is the way tennis goes,” said Thompson.
Purcell, who claimed the Wimbledon doubles title in 2022, praised their opponents, “It would have been nice to have the extra two sets,” he joked. “But I’m super happy for these boys, they deserve it.”