Henri Kontinen and Edouard Roger-Vasselin capped their team debut week with a title at the Intrum Stockholm Open on Sunday, beating third seeds Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares 6-4, 6-2.
“It was the first time we played together and the first time for me here in Stockholm, so definitely a great week,” said Roger-Vasselin. “We played probably one of our best matches today. We knew that our opponents were very strong, winning in Shanghai… It was a perfect week.”
The unseeded team snapped Pavic and Soares’ eight-match winning streak after 67 minutes, breaking serve on three occasions to overcome the Shanghai titlists. Kontinen and Roger-Vasselin dropped just one set en route to the title, but were forced to save three match points in that match to advance to the final. The debut pairing edged fourth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Fabrice Martin 6-3, 3-6, 16-14 in the semi-finals on Friday.
“We had a couple of close ones. The second round was very close, a great match against a tough team and then we were down three match points in the semi-finals. Small margins, but we were feeling pretty good coming into the final. [Pavic and Soares were a] tough team to beat but we saved our best match for last.”
Kontinen improves his impressive tour-level finals record to 23-5 after winning his second ATP Tour trophy of the season. The former World No. 1 also triumphed at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in February (w/Chardy).
This is Roger-Vasselin’s 20th tour-level crown. The 35-year-old has lifted four ATP Tour trophies in 2019, with previous title runs in Montpellier (w/Dodig), Lyon (w/Dodig) and Tokyo (w/Mahut).
Pavic and Soares were aiming to lift their second title as a team since joining forces at the Fever-Tree Championships in June. Pavic and Soares were both attempting to add to their Stockholm trophy collections, with Pavic lifting the trophy in 2017 (w/Marach) and Soares enjoying title runs in 2009 (Ullyett) and 2012 (w/Melo).
Kontinen and Roger-Vasselin receive 250 ATP Doubles Ranking points and split €35,960 in prize money. Pavic and Soares gain 150 points and share €18,430.
