Duran/Gonzalez Clinch Marrakech Title

Guillermo Duran and Maximo Gonzalez raised the Argentine flag in Morocco, claiming their first ATP World Tour team title on Saturday.

Duran and Gonzalez fought off Marin Draganja and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 3-6, 10-6 to prevail after one hour and 22 minutes at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech. The first Argentine duo to lift an ATP World Tour trophy since Carlos Berlocq and Eduardo Schwank in Stuttgart 2010, they fired four aces and converted two of five break chances.

“I’m very happy about this victory,” said Gonzalez. “We had a great week. Guillermo is a good friend of mine and it feels great to win this title together. Today was a very tough match and we are proud to leave with the trophy.”

Having previously notched five ATP Challenger Tour titles from eight finals, Duran and Gonzalez were competing in just their second tour-level event together. Individually, Duran won his second crown, following a successful run on the clay of Quito (w/Carreno Busta) in February. Gonzalez staked claim to his third doubles title following success in Valencia 2008 (w/Monaco) and Umag 2015 (w/Sa).

“We’ve played a lot of Challengers together but this was only our second ATP World Tour event together,” Duran added. “We enjoyed Marrakech a lot, the whole team here is great and very helpful. It was a pleasure and we will come back for sure.”

The Argentine tandem leave with €25,070 in prize money and 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points. Draganja and Qureshi, who split €13,170 and 150 points for their efforts, were vying for their first team title in their debut together. The Croat falls to 4-4 in ATP World Tour finals, while the Pakistani drops to 11-15.