Australia’s wildcard hopes in the men’s doubles final, Luke Saville and Max Purcell, have been outclassed by the American-British pairing of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
Ram and Salisbury won their first grand slam title 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 10 minutes.
Fifteen unforced errors cost Saville and Purcell dearly as they sought to become the first all-Australian outfit in 23 years to claim the men’s doubles title.
After a tight first set over 42 minutes, the second set flew past in just 28 minutes as the Australians’ big week started to take its toll.
Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge were the last all-Australian pairing to win the men’s doubles at Melbourne Park back in 1997.
Saville congratulated Ram and Salisbury, conceding that they were just too good.
Tweet from @AustralianOpen
“I felt like we probably didn’t quite play our best today. But even if we did, I think it would have been [the] same result,” Saville said.
“If you would have told us we would have been in the final of the
Australian Open at home grand slam, we probably would have sort of fell over there.
“It’s been a really good month. And we really hope to build on this.”
The winners acknowledged that the Australians had done a big job to win through to the final having started as wildcards.
“Congrats to Max and Luke,” Salisbury said. “Obviously great week for you guys and I’m sure you will be back in more finals like this.”
The Australian Open ends tonight with the men’s final between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Austrian underdog Dominic Thiem.
The post Australian Open: Local wildcard pair outclassed in men’s doubles final appeared first on The New Daily.
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