Dubai: Jean-Julien Rojer from the Netherlands and Romanian Horia Tecau bagged their 13th doubles title together as a pair when they fought back from a one-set deficit to defeat birthday Rohan Bopanna and Marcin Matkowski at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Saturday.
Tentative at the start of the opening set, the Dutch-Romanian duo backed each other at the low moments, to script a 4-6, 6-3, 10-3 win and deny the Matkowski-Bopanna combination their first title together.
The first four games went on serve till Rojer and Tecau were broken in the fifth on the Romainian’s serve. Bopanna, who was celebrating his 37th birthday, then held to go 4-2 clear to ultimately win the set 6-4.
“It was always going to be a tough match, especially with Bopanna gunning for his fourth title in Dubai,” Tecau told media later.
“And even though we were broken early in the first set, we backed each other, stayed calm and looked for solutions,” Tecau recalled.
“In the second set our focus was to hold our serves and fight our way back into the match,” he added.
And that is exactly what happened as the duo of Tecau and Rojer broke in the fourth for a 3-1 lead and then held for 4-1. Bopanna and Matkowski had a chance to break back in the ninth game and draw level, but Rojer and Tecau just dug in deep and held serve to finally win the set 6-3.
In the match tie-breaker, Rojer and Tecau were both solid on their serves and returns and this paid off as they were off to a strong 6-1 lead. From then on it was one-way traffic as they won the tie-break easily 10-3 for their 13th title together as a pair for the past four years.
“So 13 is our thing, yeah. It was tough to get. It was tough to get the 13th title. We didn’t get one since Madrid last year, and we are always chasing to get better, and by getting better, winning some titles,” Tecau related.
“It feels good to have a good practice week, get on the track with our game, and now gives us confidence for the rest of the season,” the Romanian added.
And to win a tournament on its silver jubilee year was even more special. “It’s always nice when these things fall in line. It’s a nice number. It’s a great achievement to have the event and to keep the event for that long,” Rojer said.
“As we see nowadays, it’s not so easy to do so. You have to be committed. You have to have great support all around. And I think they have that here in Dubai, and they do a very good job to keep the tournament coming back. I know the players enjoy playing here and having it for a 25th year in itself is amazing, and then to win, I mean, people always find numbers, and it’s our unlucky 13th and all these things. But all in all, it’s nice to win,” the Dutchman added.
“It’s a great achievement for the tournament and for Dubai to have this tournament for that long, for sure. I think that has to be recognized. We are just happy to win and be part of all this.”
RESULTS
Men’s Doubles Final: Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau bt Rohan Bopanna/Marcin Matkowski 4-6, 6-3, 10-3.
