THE first all-French doubles’ finals will take place after top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut and unseeded Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin won hard-fought semifinal matches on Thursday in the men’s doubles semifinals of the Wimbledon Championship at the All England Lawn Tennis Croquet Club in London.
The pair of Herbert and Mahut endured a five-set clash with no. 12 seeds Fil-American netter Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.
They arranged a finals’ match with Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin, who prevailed over no. 11 seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, 7-5, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5).
According to the tournament’s official website, Herbert and Mahut broke serve in the first game of their match. Then, they took the momentum they gained all the way to the opening set.
Huey and Mirnyi then earned their first break of the match on a double fault to lead, 5-3, in the second set.
The two held serve comfortably in the next game to level the match at one set each.
Both teams held serve all the way through the third set to force a tie-break.
From there, Huey and Mirnyi went on a four-point run to lead, 6-2.
They then took a commanding lead after winning their second set point.
A backhand winner from Mahut gave the French pair the lone break of the fourth set to lead, 5-4. After that, they forced a deciding fifth set in the next game.
The teams traded routine service holds in the final set until 4-4, when the top seeds were gifted a break of serve on a double fault, 5-4.
Herbert and Mahut held their rivals to love, (40-0) in the next game, with Mahut firing an ace on match point to send them into the final.
The two French teams have only played each other once, with Herbert/Mahut prevailing in a deciding set in the quarterfinals of last year’s Australian Open.