Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic are in the semi-finals of the French Open 2018: The Austrian-Croatian pairing defeated Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in three sets.
By Jens Huiber from Paris
Above Court 1 the Croatian flag flies right next to the Austrian flag. For years probably, but rarely more fitting than on this rainy Tuesday in Roland Garros. Two matches were scheduled with couples from these countries, starting with Mate Pavic and Oliver Marach, the ruling Australian Open Champions.
In a re-match of the final against Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, the two Colombians.
Marach/Pavic were the highest seeded team in the double tableau, Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo said goodbye in the round of 16.
The match had to be postponed by a few minutes because of the circumstances, Pavic gave up his first serve. That was enough for Cabal/Farah to win the first round 6:3, Marach/Pavic missed their few chances for a re-break.
And four ways to take a 2-0 lead in the second set. After 80 minutes, however, the easy favourites managed the equaliser, Robert Farah helped with a double mistake in the second set point.
In the final in Melbourne, Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic won their first Grand Slam titles 6-4 and 6-4. With their last success in Geneva, their fourth tournament victory in 2018, they took the lead again in the Doubles Race to London. Pavic also took the lead in the double world ranking, closely followed by his partner.
The third act started with two Colombian breakballs, Marach fended them off. In the fifth game the next one, in a way that Farah unbelievingly dropped his bat. Pavic, for his part, came out of a precarious situation at 3-3, Cabal/Farah were closer to the decisive break.
But Marach/Pavic succeeded immediately afterwards. The Styrian played Cabal sharply at the third break point, the Colombian’s volley landed in the end. After 2:12 hours Marach turned the second match point, the next success in a brilliant season.
The second chance for an Austrian-Croatian team is in the fourth match on Court 1: Alexander Peya and Nikola Mektic meet Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Rohan Bopanna.