More doubles history for Cabal and Farah with U.S. Open win

[September 07, 2019]  By Steve Keating

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah became the first Colombians to win the U.S. Open men's doubles title on Friday, easing past Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-4 7-5 to underscore their status as tennis's dominant partnership.

Just weeks after becoming the first Colombians to win a Grand Slam doubles title with an epic five-set victory at Wimbledon, Cabal and Farah were celebrating again after handing the Spanish/Argentine duo their first ever defeat.

"Unreal. It's amazing. What a journey," said Cabal. "If you tell us three months ago that this is going to happen, I probably will not believe you.

"But that's the way, this life that we are pretty blessed.

"We just put in the work. Every day we just believe in work, push every day to be better."

Cabal and Farah needed nearly five hours to see off France’s Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the Wimbledon final but made quick work of Granollers and Zeballos, taking just 91 minutes under the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium to get their hands on the trophy.

"The way Colombia received us when we came back from Wimbledon was really breathtaking, and I don't even want to think about how crazy it is going be now that we come back from the U.S. Open," said Farah. "I think that back-to-back is quite an achievement.

Juan Sebastian Cabal, left, and Robert Farah of Colombia celebrate after defeating Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina (not pictured) in the men's doubles final match on day twelve of the 2019 US Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

"We are very happy to represent our country the way that we are doing it."

Playing in their 400th match together, the top-ranked Colombians had a huge edge in experience over Granollers and Zeballos, who were teaming up for just their second event.

Down 5-3 in the second set with Granollers and Zeballos serving to level the match the Colombians broke back, sweeping four straight games to clinch the title and become just the sixth pairing to complete the Wimbledon/U.S. Open double.

(Editing by Toby Davis)

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