Britain’s Joe Salisbury claimed his first Grand Slam doubles title as he and partner Rajeev Ram won the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

The 27-year-old and American Ram, 35, beat Australian wildcards Max Purcell and Luke Saville 6-4 6-2 in the final on the Rod Laver Arena.

He and Jamie Murray are the only two British winners of the men’s doubles title in Australia in the Open Era.

“It feels surreal. I’m so, so happy,” Salisbury told BBC Sport.

“We believed deep down we could do it but now it has actually happened it is amazing.

“It is going to take a bit of time to sink in.”

Salisbury, who was ranked outside the world’s top 100 two years ago, will now rise to number four.

“It is tough when you are playing the lower-ranked tournaments to get enough points to get your ranking high enough to play in the big tournaments,” added the Briton, who shares a prize of 760,000 Australian dollars (£385,000) with his partner.

“I had the breakthrough making the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2018 and making the main tour. But it is tough to work your way up.”

It was a dominant performance by the Briton and partner Ram, who did not face a break point throughout the match.

Ram won the mixed doubles in Melbourne 12 months ago but this was his first men’s doubles title in his 58th major tournament.

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