Defending Champs Mektic/Pavic Meet Ebden/Purcell In Wimbledon Doubles Final

Defending champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic will meet Australians Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell for the first time Saturday in the Wimbledon men’s doubles final. 

Both teams saved at least one match point in a pair of five-set semi-final victories, with Ebden/Purcell saving five in a a 3-6, 6-7(1), 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-2 comeback against top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. While the 14th seeds battled back from two sets down, Mektic/Pavic twice came back from a set down against former champions Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal in a 6-7(2), 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(10-4) thriller, saving a match point on the Mektic serve at 4-5 in the decider.

Mektic/Pavic, the second seeds, bring a 13-match winning streak into the final, in addition to their 11-match winning streak at Wimbledon. The Croatians won at The Queen’s Club and Eastbourne in the lead-up to Wimbledon, giving them four titles on the season (Rome, Geneva). They have won 13 titles as a pair since teaming up for the 2021 ATP Tour season.

Aussies Ebden/Purcell lifted their lone trophy as a duo in Houston this April and reached the final at the Australian Open and in s’Hertogenbosch. The Wimbledon marathon men have gone the distance in four of their five matches this fortnight and twice came back from two sets down; they won a 10-8 fifth-set tie-break in the opening round against Ben McLachlan and Andre Goransson in their other great escape.

Ebden also reached the Wimbledon mixed doubles final on Thursday. Teaming with countrywoman Sam Stosur, he fell short of the title as Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski triumphed 6-4, 6-3.

He will again bid for his Grand Slam glory in Saturday’s final.