India’s Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth clinched the doubles title at the 2024 Hangzhou Open, beating Germany’s Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens in a thrilling final on Tuesday, September 24.
The triumph marks the first ATP Tour title for the duo, who teamed up at the beginning of the 2024 season. Playing unseeded at the ATP 250 event, they won the match 4-6, 7(7)-6(5), 10-7 at the Hangzhou Olympics Sports Centre. It took them one hour and 49 minutes to get the better of the German duo.
Frantzen and Jebens initially controlled the match, taking the first set after breaking in the fifth game and winning two service games without dropping a point. However, Jeevan and Vijay held their serves in the second set and fought back to win in a tie-breaker.
With the match tied at one set each, it proceeded to a 10-point
super tiebreaker. Although Frantzen and Jebens led 5-4, the Indian pair surged ahead, winning six of the final eight points to claim the championship.
For Jeevan, aged 35, this is his second ATP title, with his last win dating back to the 2017 Chennai Open alongside Rohan Bopanna. For 37-year-old Vijay, this marks his first title on the ATP circuit.
Notably, all of Jeevan and Vijay’s victories during the Hangzhou Open came in super tiebreakers. They previously overcame Uruguay’s Ariel Behar and the USA’s Robert Galloway, seeded third, after a tough start, winning that match 0-6, 6-2, 10-4.
In the quarter-finals, they defeated the second-seeded British team of Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool with a score of 6(4)-7(7), 7(8)-6(6), 10-8, after beginning their campaign by beating Australians Blake Bayldon and Thomas Fancutt 7(7)-6(4), 4-6, 10-7.