The final started a little before 11 pm. Sixth seeds Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten faced the No. 3 seeds, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy.
The Brit/Fin combination first teamed in April, 2024. Just a few months later, they won Wimbledon in a thrilling tri-tiebreak match against Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, 6–7(7), 7-6(8), 7-6(9).
The Italians were runners-up at the Australian Open and Roland Garros last year and were again aiming for their first slam title.
Together they were an important part of Italy’s winning Davis Cup campaigns in 2023 and ’24 though, disappointingly, did not play in either final due to 2-0 score lines in the singles rubbers, leaving their doubles matches as unneeded dead rubbers.
The teams had opposed each other twice before, with a win each.
In Melbourne, the Italians didn’t face a seeded team until the final.
Heliövaara / Patten beat 15th seeds Hugo Nys and Édouard Roger-Vasselinin in the quarters and, in the semis, 4th seeds Kevin Krawiet and Tim Pütz in a 10-7 third set tiebreak.
The women’s singles final that started the evening’s tennis had gone for only 122 minutes but, of course, the trophy presentation and speeches contributed to delaying the start of the men’s doubles final.
After the match eventually started, the Italians were leading 5-4 in the first set, when Heliövaara suspected that Vavassori had hit a volley with his racquet contacting the ball over the net, so should not have been awarded the point for 40-30. Umpire Thomas Sweeney reviewed video footage for several minutes and concluded that Vavassori had indeed made illicit contact. Sweeney removed the set point and awarded the point to the opponents for a break-back opportunity. And Heliövaara whacked a forehand return winner to break Bolelli’s serve for 5-5.
At 6-5, Heliövaara / Patten failed to convert three consecutive set points and Vavassori held.
The ensuing tiebreak saw a set point to Heliövaara / Patten at 9-8, but an error by the Fin and next point a Bocelli volley winner brought another set point, this time to the Italians.
They failed to convert and the tiebreak progressed on serve to 16-16. Vavassori returned with a backhand straight at Heliövaara, whose defensive shot landed well out.
Then with their sixth set point the Italians had to rely on a Bolelli second serve. He took Heliövaara’s return and hit a brilliant forehand winner across his body and down the line as Patten was moving towards the middle.
At 18-16, the tiebreak of 24 minutes was over and the Italians had finally claimed the first set. Their mighty tiebreak, however, did not surpass the 30 minute, 22-20 tiebreak won by Anna Blinkova last year.
Heliövaara and Patten, however, were left to rue their 10 missed set points.
The second set proceeded on serve to another tiebreak, which was even to 5-5. Patten aced for 6-5, then Heliövaara just got his racquet on Bolelli’s serve to return down the line and Bolelli’s reply was long. Now it was one set all.
The deciding set started well for Heliövaara / Patten who broke for 2-0. They stretched their lead to 5-2. Vavassori held for his team to stay in the match. With a double fault, Patten went down 0-30. At 15-40 he gave the opposition double break-back points but somehow climbed back to deuce. Consecutive winning points later, and Heliövaara and Patten claimed the trophy.
They became champions at 1.42 am after 184 minutes of play, for 7-6(16), 6-7(5), 6-3.
Patten lay down on the court and Heliövaara knelt and shook his fists. It was Patten who first went over to the group of around 30 delighted Finnish fans. They were soon joined by Heliövaara, who was literally jumping for joy.
Given the hour, the crowd had gradually thinned during the match and not many remained for the trophy presentation.
Addressing tournament director Craig Tiley, Vavassori told him, “You are doing an amazing job. Hopefully, next year, you can change the time of the doubles finals. I don’t think it’s good for doubles to not have so many people watching…
“This is the best tournament in the world for me, thank you to all the people that make this tournament possible. In the next year, I wish that doubles will grow because it’s a great sport, like singles.”
Photo: Peter Staples
Patten started with exclamations, “Bloody hell! What an evening!”
“…Now for Harri, what a journey we’ve been on, it’s truly special to share the court with you. I wouldn’t like to do it with anyone else and, yeah, let’s keep going.”
Heliövaara smiled and nodded, before turning to Patten. “Could I have done it without you, Henry? I don’t think so. Team sport, doubles, the most important thing – find a good partner. I’ve succeeded in that pretty well. Not only on the tennis court, but outside the tennis court we’re such good friends, and I think that’s what keeps us close together on the tennis courts and brings us titles like this. Super thankful.
“Lastly, Australian Open, what a tournament! My first time here was in 2007 – stood on the court next to us, Margaret Court [Arena], the winner of the boys’ doubles, and now I’m back here 18 years after that winning the men’s doubles. So, you guys, this is the best tournament in the world.”