Krawietz/Mies Win Twice In A Day To Take Barcelona Crown

Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies claimed an emotional victory at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Sunday afternoon, fighting past Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski to clinch their first title together since successfully defending their crown at Roland Garros in 2020.

The German duo reunited at the start of the year after Mies missed most of 2021 following knee surgery, and the unseeded pairing looked back to its best as it came from behind in the final to secure a 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 10-6 win at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899.

“It feels amazing,” said Mies after the pairing completed its maiden ATP 500 triumph in Spain. “It’s been a long time since we won our last title, the end of 2020, and I was injured all of last year, so I couldn’t be more relieved right now.”

The championship match triumph was the second match of the day for both teams, with Krawietz and Mies stepping on court early on Sunday to win their rain-delayed semi-final clash with Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, 6-7(6), 6-4, 10-7.

“It’s a special moment for us, we came through a lot of tough matches this week, a lot of close ones, we could have been out a few times already,” added Mies. “Especially this morning, playing two times today, tough matches. I’m very happy with our performance and how we managed to get the win in the end, unbelievable.”

Back in the winner’s circle 🏆

Kevin Krawietz & Andreas Mies clinch the Barcelona title!#BCNOpenBS pic.twitter.com/rVqde0xwc0

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 24, 2022

Krawietz and Mies recovered from the disappointment of losing the opening-set tie-break to edge Koolhof and Skupski in both the second-set tie-break and the Match Tie-break as they proved the more consistent team over the course of a two-hour, 27-minute clash on Pista Rafa Nadal.

“In doubles it’s always tight with a Match Tie-break to stay mentally strong,” said Krawietz. “We played not so well sometimes, but in the tournament we were mentally good, so we are happy to have managed the matches and of course we are very happy to win the tournament here in Barcelona.”

Despite the defeat, Koolhof and Skupski can look back on another strong week as they extend their winning record in 2022 to 29-6. The Dutch-British duo have been one of the in-form pairings on Tour this year, picking up three ATP 250 titles and reaching the final at the Miami Open presented by Itau.