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Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten are chasing their second title of the season together in Doha (file photo).
By Sam Jacot
Wimbledon champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten ended the Novak Djokovic and Fernando Verdasco party on Wednesday at the when they overcome the Serbian-Spanish team at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
The second seeds earned a 7-5, 6-4 victory in Doha, bringing an end to Verdasco’s storied 23-year career.
Teaming for the first time since 2007, Djokovic and Verdasco dispatched Alexander Bublik and Karen Khachanov in their opening match at the ATP 500 event. Looking to continue their run on Wednesday, the singles stars regularly shared chest pumps, fired a range of winners and raised their arms to the crowd. However, they ultimately came up short against Heliovaara and Patten, with the second seeds too strong.
The Finn-British team won 83 per cent (33/40) of their first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and were solid at the net to earn victory after 88 minutes. Heliovaara and Patten won their second major title together at the Australian Open in January and will look to add to their trophy haul in Doha, where they next meet Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski.
Following the match, Verdasco and Djokovic hugged before the 41-year-old Spaniard embraced the roars from the crowd. Verdasco won seven tour-level singles titles and eight doubles crowns.
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