ATP: First defeat in 2018!

Oliver Marach and his double colleague Mate Pavic met the French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the final of the ATP tournament in Rotterdam. Despite an impressive performance, the Melbourne winners were unable to prevent their first defeat in 2018.

The final started well for the sensational double of 2018 and the Austro-Croatian pair took the French opponents’ serve to the early 3-2 lead. The subsequent service game went smoothly and the best doubles players of the world played strong and dominant.

With a further break Marach/Pavic increased the pressure on the French and won after only 27 minutes first place with 6:2. The presentation of the winners of the Australian Open was flawless and could hardly be presented better. Especially the 91% of the first serve won in the first set did not leave Mahut/Herbert any chance of a break.

In the second round Mahut/Herbert played better and brought their opponents in Bredouille. At a score of 0:1 Marach and Pavic got a break and were immediately trailing 0:3. Only a short time later, the Melbourne winners left two break chances and had to give up the second round 2:6 at the end. In the match tiebreak the winners of Rotterdam were determined.

Also in the decisive round, the Frenchmen got the better start and secured a quick lead with a mini-break. However, Marach and Pavic did not get stuck and fought back. The deciding sentence developed into a back-and-forth movement and the tension in the Rotterdam arena reached its climax – with the better end for Mahut and Herbert.

In the end, only one lost point won the final in the Netherlands and Mahut/Herbert won 2-6,6-2 and 10-7 and finished the dream race of Marach and Pavic in 2018.