Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten battled past Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-4 3-6 7-6 (10-7) to book their spot in the final of the Australian Open doubles tournament.
Heliovaara and Patten, who won Wimbledon in 2024, lost their first set at this tournament, but they bounced back by winning the Match Tie-Break to reach their first final at the Australian Open.
The Finnish and British team saved all four of the break points they faced in the final set before sealing the win after 2 hours and 1 minute.
Heliovaara and Patten went down 4-6 in the tie-break when Krawietz and Puetz earned a mini-break after a double fault from Patten.
Patten hit a forehand winner to pull back on serve. Heliovaara and Patten won six of the next seven points and served out on their first match point.
Krawietz and Puetz were aiming to reach their second Grand Slam final as a team after they lost to Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson in last year’s US Open final.
“That brought memories from Wimbledon. We won two matches in the third-set Match Tie-break last summer. We are now able to do it again at the Aussie Open. That’s a very good sign. It was an amazing atmosphere playing on this court, and we showed our best, so we can be proud”, said Heliovaara.
Patten had not gone beyond the third round at a Grand Slam before partnering with Heliovaara.
“I am just trying to ride the wave. I can’t stop smiling at the moment which is pretty unusual”, said Patten.
Heliovaara and Patten set up a championships match against Australian Open finalists Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, who came back from one set down to beat Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek 2-6 6-3 6-4 to to reach the Australian Open final for the second consecutive year.
Goransson and Verbeek broke twice in the third and seventh games to win the first set 6-2. Vavassori and Bolelli broke serve in the second game and held on their next service games to win the second set 6-3.
Goransson and Verbeek held on their serve at deuce in the first game of the third set. Vavassori and Bolelli broke serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Goransson and Veerbek earned a break-back point in the eighth game but Vavassori and Bolelli saved it to hold on their serve. The Italian team sealed the win on the first match point.
Heliovaara and Patten beat Bolelli and Vavassori in the first round at Wimbledon last year, but the Italian team avenged this defeat against the British and Finnish team in the China Open final. They are 1-1 in their head-to-head matches.