El Salvador's Arevalo first central American player to win Grand Slam title in Paris


FE Team | Published: June 05, 2022 13:32:56 | Updated: June 06, 2022 19:14:50


Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 4, 2022 El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo and Netherlands' Jean-Julien Rojer celebrate with the trophy after winning their men's doubles final match against Croatia's Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek of the US (left).Netherlands' Jean-Julien Rojer is pictured with his child and teammate Arevalo (right) Reuters

El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo became the first player from central America to claim a Grand Slam title when he paired up with Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands to win the men's doubles final at the French Open on Saturday, Reuters reports.

Arevalo and Rojer, seeded 12th, beat Croatian Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 after saving three match points and converting their only break chance.

At last year's US Open, Arevalo was the first player from central America to take part in a final at a major.

On Saturday, he converted his second opportunity with a gritty performance on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Dodig and Krajicek, who had come from a set down to eliminate top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the quarter-finals, did not face a single break point in the opening set.

Their opponents saved five but conceded the set in the tiebreak as the unseeded duo remained strong on serve.

The second set was a carbon copy of the first until the tiebreak, when Arevalo and Rojer made the most of their chances.

They finally broke for 4-2 in the decider and held throughout, ending it with a service game to love.

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