MELBOURNE: Eleventh seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury stopped the unbelievable doubles run of Australian Open wildcards Max Purcell and Luke Saville Sunday, crushing them 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
In Aussie Open the American and British pair showed their experience, eventually breaking in the seventh game of the opening set, and two more breaks in set two were enough to earn them the title.
Incredibly, they only lost seven points on serve and never faced a breakpoint. Rajeev Ram said, “I don’t think I thought when I asked you to play just over a year ago that we would be standing here now but it’s been an honour to play with you,” said Britain’s Salisbury after their first Slam title as a team.
“Thank you so much for being the best partner I could get.” It is worth to mention here, Ram, 35, is the first American man to win the Australian Open doubles title since the Bryan brothers in 2013. Jamie Murray was the last British champion, winning the 2016 title with Brazil’s Bruno Soares.
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