Marcel Granollers conquers New York and wins the US Open partnering Horacio Zeballos.

BarcelonaCatalan Marcel Granollers and Argentine Horacio Zeballos were crowned champions of the US Open men's doubles tournament this Saturday, defeating Britain's Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the final. Granollers and Zeballos are capping off a dream season, having won two of the four major tournaments together. They reigned supreme at Roland Garros a few months ago, and today they triumphed at Flushing Meadows in a match where they saved three match points.

Granollers and Zeballos, who have played together since 2019, lifted their second Grand Slam title after playing five finals together, all of them lost, until their triumph against Salisbury and Skupski in Paris. At 38, Granollers is experiencing a second youth in a career where he has always excelled in doubles, first partnering Marc López and then Zeballos.

The early eliminations of favorites like Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, or Marcelo Arévalo and Mate Pavic, the first and second seeds, respectively, paved the way for Zeballos, 40, and Granollers. However, the road has not been easy, and on four occasions they have won in the third and final sets. The victory in New York allows Marcel and Horacio to take a huge step towards seeking a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals.

In the final, the Barcelona player and the player from La Plata lost the first set, and suffered in a second one won in the tie-breakerIn the final set, Granollers and Zeballos, 5-4 down and serving, found themselves at 0-40, facing three match points for Salisbury and Skupski. They saved them all with five consecutive points – four errors by Skupski – to level the set. With Skupski, touched, serving, the match point came. break key to giving Granollers and Zeballos the title. "We [Zeballos and I] have been fighting together for a long time. And yes, this year we are getting incredible results. It makes me very happy to do it with him, because we fought with all our strength," Granollers said at the awards ceremony. "Honestly, I can't believe we just won the US Open. It's incredible to be here. I mean, with all those people watching us... It's always hard to find such a good crowd for doubles," Zeballos added. The two have won eight Masters 1000 tournaments together, in addition to both Grand Slams.

Sabalenka, champion

In the women's draw, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka retained her US Open title, the fourth major of her career, after defeating American Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6. The world number 1 became the first player to defend the title in 10 years. The last was Serena Williams in 2014. And she did it all, including an erratic first set, where at times it seemed the young Anisimova would impose her anarchic style. However, the unforced errors of the American player with Russian roots condemned her.

With 11 winners in just five games, the American made her intentions very clear, but Anisimova's inconsistency suddenly appeared, sinking her at the end of the first set. This was Anisimova's second major final, having cruelly lost to Swiatek at Wimbledon by a double 6-0. At the US Open, however, she performed better, taking the second set to a tie-break where he has not been able to stop Sabalenka.