Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten defeated Austria’s Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 3–6, 6–4, 10–4 in the final match of the Marrakesh ATP250 tournament.
Harri Heliövaaran and of Henry Patten taival as a tennis doubles pair got off to a flying start when the duo immediately won the first tournament they played together in Marrakesh, Morocco (ATP250).
They defeated Austria in the final by Alexander Erler and by Lucas Miedler 3–6, 6–4, 10–4.
The win was Heliövaara’s fifth at the ATP level, Patten’s first.
– After all, the emotions here are high. A dream start to our cooperation with Henry. It was great to be able to lead Henry to his first ATP tournament victory, and it had been a while since his previous victory. The match-tie-break was a great performance from us under pressure, comments Heliövaara in the Tennisliito press release.
Heliövaara and Patten advanced to the finals of the Marrakesh tournament without losing a set. However, in the final match, the duo found themselves in a chasing position, when Erler and Miedler won the first set, but the Finnish-British pair still went on to victory.
Heliövaara wrote in his blog that the victory should be enjoyed, but pointed out that the match was not perfect. Defeat in two straight sets was not far off, as the opponents were neck and neck for one and a half sets.
– In the second set, the Austrians had a break ball in a 4–4 situation and Miedler had a return of the second pass with his stick, but it was in the net. And Erler, on the other hand, made his only double fault of the match right at the deciding point in the next game, Heliövaara writes.
The 198-centimeter Patten, 27, is a reaching left-handed player who complements the game of the ten-centimeter shorter and right-handed Heliövaara. Patten is strong in passing and good at the net.
– The wonderful calmness and certainty in the decisive moments, the belief in my own way of playing and the great swagger as part of the new team made a big impression on me. A calm man on and off the field, but reflexes work on the field and creativity is also found when needed, Heliövaara analysed.
Petten’s ranking in the tennis men’s doubles world ranking is 63, so the duo will initially tour lower-level tournaments. Heliövaara’s ranking has also fallen from its best days.
The duo will next head to the CH100 tournament in Madrid next week.
Heliövaara used to play the British for a long time by Lloyd Glasspool with, but the couple decided to end their cooperation at the end of the year. The Finn played since the beginning of the year of John Peers with, but the results were modest.