AO Doubles Final: Battle For Maiden Slam Title

Opportunity is knocking at Melbourne Park, and either the pair of Oliver Marach/Mate Pavic or Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah will seize that chance Saturday evening to claim their maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

Marach and Pavic, the No. 7 seeds, entered the tournament on fire and have kept the momentum going at the year’s first major. The Austrian-Croatian duo captured its second and third ATP World Tour titles as a team at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (d. Murray/Soares) and the ASB Classic (d. Mirnyi/Oswald) in the first and second week of the season, respectively.

And the duo will be able to rely on experience in a Grand Slam final as well. Last year, they fell in an epic five-set marathon in the Wimbledon final against Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, losing 13-11 in the fifth set, making that the second-longest fifth set in a Wimbledon doubles final in the Open Era. John McEnroe and Michael Stich won the 1992 championship 19-17 in the decider against Jim Grabb and Richey Reneberg.

“Losing the Wimbledon final will help us a lot,” Pavic said. “We already have some experience from that. We’ve been there already once, so looking forward to the match.”

Marach and Pavic are battle-tested, too. Not only do they enter the final unbeaten in their past 20 matches dating back to last season, but they have won four three-setters at Melbourne Park, including two in third-set tie-breaks in the quarter-finals (d. Daniell/Inglot) and semi-finals (d. McLachlan/Struff). They have yet to face match point in the tournament.

“It’s exceptional what they’re doing this year. To win already two [ATP World Tour] 250 tournaments, to come out here and back it up with a [Grand Slam] final already,” Farah said. “We just have to focus on our tennis and hope for the best.”

On the other side of the net will be a Colombian team that has had no such difficulty advancing through the draw. Cabal and Farah have yet to lose a set at the year’s first major, and have not been broken since the event’s first round, when the 11th seeds lost serve twice against home favourites Marc Polmans and Andrew Whittington.

“It’s amazing. It’s great for Colombia,” Cabal said. “It’s been an amazing run. We’ve been playing better and better every time.”

Cabal and Farah, who have teamed since 2010, advanced to their first Grand Slam final when they defeated six-time former Australian Open champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan for the fourth consecutive time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry in the semi-finals.

“This team is very underrated,” Marach said. “They have beaten all the top teams, and just a little bit missing to get to the Top 10… will be a tough match, but we know we’re going to get chances.”

The winners will earn 2,000 ATP Doubles Rankings points and claim their share of $700,000, while the runner-ups will capture 1,200 points and split $350,000.