Laura Siegemund and Edouard Roger-Vasselin have beaten Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski 6-4 7-5 to win their maiden mixed doubles title together at the French Open.
Thursday’s victory gave Germany’s Siegemund a second mixed doubles grand slam crown while it was a first for Frenchman Roger-Vasselin which made it all the more special as it came on home soil.
“This was a last minute thing, I didn’t want to play mixed (doubles) here because I was in the singles and doubles also,” Siegemund said at the trophy presentation ceremony.
“Then Edouard texted me two hours before the deadline … I always wanted to play with him but it was somehow not working out.
“Then I was like, ‘I can’t say no’. Now he’s finally free, he wants to play so I think it was a good decision!”
Meanwhile, it was a second straight loss in a slam final for Krawczyk and Skupski following their defeat at the Australian Open final in a match tiebreaker.
Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin, the No.2 seeds, broke in the first game of the match and consolidated for a 2-0 lead.
The German-French duo took the opening set when Siegemund smashed a cross-court winner at the net.
Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin capitalised in the second set when they targeted Krawczyk, a four-time grand slam mixed doubles winner, breaking him to love in the third game to take a 2-1 lead and they repeated the same tactic later in the set.
On the deciding point at 4-4 on Skupski’s serve, Krawczyk missed an easy shot at the net to hand Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin the crucial break, but the British-American pair saved a championship point off the Frenchman’s serve.
But for a third time in the set, they targeted Krawczyk’s serve and broke as Siegemund got the better of Skupski twice at the net.
The German then held as they clinched a first grand slam title together when Skupsi found the net on championship point.