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Marach-Pavic clinch Australian Open men’s doubles title
Melbourne, Jan 27 (IANS) Oliver Marach of Austria and Mate Pavic of Croatia on Saturday defeated Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 33 minutes, clinching the Australian Open men’s doubles title.
The European pair has remained undefeated since the loss to Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the 2017 Shanghai Masters quarterfinals last October, reports Efe.
This was their third title in 2018 so far, after winning the Doha and Auckland crowns.
Pavic, 24, became the youngest player to win the Australian Open doubles title since France’s Michael Llodra, who won the crown in 2004 aged 23.
The Cabal-Farah pair aspired to be the first Colombian duo to win a title in Australia after their success in the semi-finals against the United States’ brothers Mike and Bob Bryan, the six-time champions.
However, one break out of two opportunities was all the European pair needed to clinch the first set.
The Colombians pressured early in the second set, making breakpoints, but were unable to capitalize on any of them.
At 4-4, Marach-Pavic broke their rivals’ serve, and won their next service game to earn their first major title.
The European pair had teamed up before in Miami in 2016, when Brain Baker and Daniel Nestor spoiled their debut match.
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.