Final: Heliovaara and Patten get their revenge
After four defeats to Glasspool and Cash this year, Henry and Harri win their first Masters 1000 title together.
With a couple of days of rest planned before they begin they head to the ATP Finals in Turin, Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten have plenty to celebrate. They are the second best team in the world, second only to the pair they had just beaten 6-3, 6-4 in 65 minutes. They dismantled Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool – this was an excellent performance with barely an error between them.
“I had one other team in the past that I lost four times in a row too, and I told them after the fifth match that no one beats Harri five times in a row!” Heliovaara said. “Of course, we learned from the four previous matches and we know each other so well, me having played with Lloyd for many years, Henry with Julian. It’s an interesting dynamic – we are such good friends until 10 minutes before we step on the court together and then it’s just battle, battle, battle. I’m so happy it was our turn today.”
On the individual doubles rankings, Glasspool is the best player in the world yet it was he who proved to be the weak link in the chain (although the margins are so fine at this level). He was broken in both sets as he and Cash seemed half a step off the pace throughout. And when Heliovaara and Patten went on a run to win 11 points of 12 in that first set, the pattern had been set.
Patten steps up
In the semi-final, it was Patten’s normally reliable serve that had faltered at first. Not that he was too worried. Vowing to stay away from the practice court, he would just let nature take its course. In the final, his serve was back with a vengeance (he sealed the championship with an ace). “The secret was not to work at all on my game yesterday – and it worked out,” he said cheerily. “It’s amazing. We are two very happy boys right now. Julian and Lloyd are the best pair in the world right now and we’re still 4-1 down so we’ve got a bit of catching up to do. We’re extremely proud of the performance and there’s no better place to do it than Paris. We’re elated.”
Turin next
The new champions will make their second appearance in the ATP Finals and, this year, they are determined to enjoy every minute of it. And it matters even more that the four old friends are going there together. “I remember playing with Lloyd when we won our first Challenger together,” Heliovaara said. “That was almost five years ago. Things have changed. We are all going to Turin together as the No.1 and No.2 in the world. That is special.”