Mahut/Herbert Clinch Rome Crown
French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut won their first ATP World Tour team title of the season on Sunday in Rome as they triumphed at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia with a 4-6, 6-4, 10-3 victory over Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers.
Herbert and Mahut are set to rise to fourth in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London after securing 1000 points with their victory at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tournament.
"It's good to enjoy being on the court so much, it's been a while since I felt we were close," said Herbert. "It's nice to live this together. From the start to the end, the attitude was very good. We stayed together and were calm all the time."
The Frenchmen have battled through the draw at the Foro Italico to end a team title drought of 10 months, since they won the Wimbledon title in July 2016. They saved match point to beat Brian Baker and Nicholas Monroe in the second round and fended off four match points to edge Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas in the quarter-finals, before edging Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in a Match Tie-break in the semi-finals.
And they did it the hard way in the final too, rallying from a set down to beat Dodig and Granollers in another Match Tie-break after one hour and 35 minutes. Having trailed by a break, Dodig and Granollers clinched the first set as they reeled off three straight games from 3-4. But Herbert/Mahut responded immediately with a break in the first game of the second set, which sufficed to level the match. The French pair then dominated the deciding tie-break to prevail.
Victory at the Foro Italico marks Herbert and Mahut's eighth tour-level title together.
"I really finished those two weeks being tired and sore all over," said Mahut. "Pierre-Hugues really held it for us at the start of the week, and I've had my best match in the final I think. It's a great reward for us."
Dodig and Granollers were looking to win their second title together. The Croatian/Spanish duo, who teamed up at the start of the season, captured their first trophy in Rotterdam in February (d. Koolhof/Middelkoop). Granollers was contesting the Rome doubles final for the third time, having won the 2012 title and finished runner-up in 2015 with Marc Lopez.