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Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski broke the Grand Slam barrier in style Saturday at Wimbledon, where the top-seeded pairing outclassed Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos to lift their maiden major crown.
The Dutch-British team prevailed 6-4, 6-4 to spark emotional celebrations on Centre Court. Koolhof and Skupski’s imaginative returning earned them the only break of each set as they wrapped a 76-minute victory, their first in three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Granollers and Zeballos.
“[It’s] very special,” said Koolhof. “It started when the doors [to Centre Court] opened, and one and half hours later to hold this [trophy] is very, very special.”
“I don’t know what to say,” said Skpuski. “Growing up watching this amazing championships, starting off a young boy at Palmerston Tennis Club in Liverpool. Going out there with my dad, and then obviously growing up with my brother (Ken Skupski) who has been very influential in my career.
“This feeling at the moment doesn’t get better. Me and Wesley came together 18 months ago, and this year this was one of our goals. To win a Grand Slam. Now we’ve done it, it feels very special.”
Dominant all tournament 👏
The top seeds knock out Granollers/Zeballos 6-4 6-4 to claim the title 🏆 Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Wimbledon | Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Wimbledon
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 15, 2023
Koolhof and Skupski broke their opponents’ serve in the seventh game of the first set and the fifth game of the second, breakthroughs which they backed up with a dominant serving display. The duo faced just one break point and won 40 of 50 points behind their delivery overall.
The victory helped banish painful memories of Koolhof and Skupski’s previous major final as a team. The pair fell in straight sets to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury at the US Open last September, but showed no sign of nerves on Saturday in London as it sealed victory to return to first place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.
“[Our next goal] is to rock the [Champions’ Ball] tomorrow evening,” joked Koolhof, who also reached the 2020 US Open final alongside Nikola Mektic. “Obviously we have a few more tournaments to go this year. The US Open, the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin is obviously a goal. I was lucky enough to win it here in London in 2020, so I will do my best to get Neal on board and have that one as well.”
Skupski is the first Briton to triumph in the Wimbledon men’s doubles since Jonathan Marray in 2012, while Koolhof is the first Dutchman since Jean-Julien Rojer in 2015. It is another milestone in a meteoric rise for the team, which has now won nine tour-level titles since coming together at the start of the 2022 season.
Granollers and Zeballos were attempting to become the first Spaniard and Argentine, respectively, to win the Wimbledon men’s doubles crown. The pair was playing in their third major final, having also suffered championship-match defeat at the 2019 US Open and Wimbledon in 2021.
“We tried to win, but I think the guys really deserved it. They played much better than us,” said Zeballos. “They knew how to play under pressure, we didn’t… Right now I am a little bit sad, but before the week, if I had to sign for [reaching the] final, of course I would do it every time.”
“We’ve had good years together. Already our fourth season playing very good,” reflected Granollers. “We are trying hard every day to get these kinds of titles, so we will keep trying and practising hard to one day get this one.”
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