FROM LEFT: Alistair Routledge, President and General Manager, ExxonMobil Qatar, Andrew Swiger, Senior Vice President and Principal Financial Officer, ExxonMobil, Belgian player David Goffin, Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Nasser Al Khelaifi, President,
Doha: David Goffin of Belgium and Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France yesterday beat Dutch pair Robin Haase and Matwe Middlekoop to bag the Qatar ExxonMobil Open doubles title with a fighting performance.
Goffin and Herbert, playing only the second time as a team, won 5-7, 6-4, 10-4 in 1 hour 23 minutes. After clinching the match point, Herbert - who was serving - hugged team-mate Goffin. The champions have now improved to 5-1 as a team.
On Thursday, the two fighters saved three match points in their semi-finals win over the Djokovic brothers. Yesterday’s victory was worth $74,270 and 250 rankings points for Goffin and Herbert. Frenchman Herbert now has 14 doubles titles to his name.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Goffin, who won his maiden doubles title, said at the trophy presentation ceremony yesterday.
“We won four matches in one week and it is something unusual, “ he added. “It means a lot to win like this,” Goffin said.
Herbert, a three-time Grand Slam doubles champion, said: “It is for sure something special. I was lucky enough to play here with a friend. I also congratulate the finalists and I have taken my revenge (smiles in the direction of the finalists). I want to thank Qatar Tennis Federation and ExxonMobil for this great event.”
Battling extremely windy conditions at the Centre Court at Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex, Goffin and Herbert raced to a 4-3 lead after a service break in game 7 in the first 24 minutes of the entertaining title clash.
Watched by the 2000 Qatar ExxonMobil Open singles champion Fabrice Santoro from the stands, Dutch duo Haase and Middelkoop drew level with a service break at 4-4 after unforced errors from the opponents in the eight game.
The Dutch pair soon jumped to a 5-4 lead. However, Goffin and Herbert served well to draw level at 5-5. Haase and Middelkoop served returned the compliment to retain their lead, this time at 6-5 and then broke Goffin and Herbert to take the first set at 7-5 in 44 minutes.
Seventeen minutes later, Haase and Middelkoop raced to a 4-3 lead in the second set. Goffin served an ace at deuce in game eight to draw level at 4-4 all. Carrying on the with the momentum swing, Goffin and Herbert broke Haase/Middelkoop to jump to a 5-4 lead after game nine.
Seconds later Goffin served and team-mate Herbert fired a backhand volley as the pair took the second set at 6-4 in 28 minutes of entertaining tennis.
Goffin and Herbert raced to a 5-1 lead in the super tie-breaker, a cushion that eventually allowed them to easily close the decider at 10-4 following a long return by the Dutch pair.
Haase said yesterday: “It was a good week. We could have lost in the first match. We were behind in the super tie-break in the first match and from then on, we played amazingly well. We were really close to winning at 4-3, 30-40 (in the second set). We had our chances but we didn’t take them. In tennis, you must take your chances or the other team will and they did.”
Middelkoop said yesterday: “That’s doubles tennis. You can come close to winning but overall you have to rely on team work. Last year we won a lot of titles and if we can play like we did today, we will win more titles. I am sure it was a good match to watch for the audience.”
Losing semi-finalists on Thursday Santiago Gonzalez/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and the Djokovic brothers, Novak and Marko, bagged $20,630 each.
A total of 16 teams featured in the tournament.
