PARIS, June 13 — Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut became the first French pair to win their home Grand Slam twice when they defeated Kazakhs Alexander Bublik and Andrey Golubev 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4 in the men’s doubles final at Roland Garros on Saturday.

Herbert and Mahut, who have won all four majors in doubles together, added to their 2018 French Open title after recovering from a shaky start.

They saved three match points in the semi-finals against Colombians Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

The only other home favourites to lift the trophy were Henri Leconte and Yannick Noah in 1984 and Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in 2014.

It is Herbert and Mahut’s fifth Grand Slam title after their 2018 French Open triumph and titles at the 2015 US Open, Wimbledon 2016 and the 2019 Australian Open.

They only lost one Grand Slam final, their first, at the 2015 Australian Open. — Reuters