Ram/Salisbury Capture First US Open Title
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury battled back to overcome Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Friday at the US Open to lift their second major trophy as a team.
The fourth seeds saved four match points in their quarter-final victory and rallied from a set down against Murray and Soares, winning 78 per cent (36/46) of their first-serve points to secure victory after one hour and 44 minutes.
The American-British tandem triumphed at the Australian Open in 2020 and arrived in New York in strong form, after clinching their first ATP Masters 1000 crown as a team in Toronto. They now hold an 11-1 record since Wimbledon, where they reached the semi-finals.
Earlier this year, Ram and Salisbury defeated Murray and Soares in the last four at the Australian Open, before falling to Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek in the championship match. They now lead Murray and Soares 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head Series and hold a 2-1 record as a team in major finals.
After a tight start, Murray and Soares started to find their rhythm on return as they hit with great depth to force Ram and Salisbury into errors. They broke in the seventh game of the first set to lead and sealed the opener when Ram pushed a forehand wide.
However, Ram and Salisbury raised their intensity in the second set, closing the net effectively as they raced 4-0 ahead. The American-British team won 88 per cent (14/16) of their first-serve points in the set to level, before breaking in the opening game of the third set to seize control. Ram and Salisbury did not face a break point in the decider as they clinched the title.
Murray and Soares were aiming to lift their second US Open trophy, having been victorious at Flushing Meadows in 2016. The British-Brazilian team were teaming for the first time since Wimbledon, after Soares underwent surgery to remove his appendix upon arriving at the Tokyo Olympics.
The seventh seeds won the Australian Open title in 2016 and joined forces again at the start of the year, triumphing at the Great Ocean Road Open trophy in February in their first tournament together since competing at Roland Garros in 2019.
It was the first time in the Open Era that two Britons met in a major men’s doubles final and the first time in 12 years that the US Open men’s doubles final went to a deciding set.