MELBOURNE: Sixth seeds Neal Skupski and Christian Harrison beat Australia’s Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans 7-6(4) 6-4 on Saturday to win the Australian Open men’s doubles title, claiming their first Grand Slam trophy as a team.
The victory, achieved in front of a raucous home crowd at Rod Laver Arena, earned Harrison his maiden Grand Slam title. It was Skupski’s fourth major triumph across men’s and mixed doubles, and his first outside Wimbledon.
With the roof closed due to rain, the final began at a brisk pace as the British-American duo surged to a 4-2 lead. Kubler and Polmans responded with strong backing from the stands to force a tiebreak, but Skupski sealed it with a thumping overhead smash.
Harrison and Skupski broke early in the second set and held firm despite a spirited Australian fightback, closing out the match to secure the championship.
