El Salvador’s Arevalo first central American player to win Grand Slam title in Paris

PARIS, June 4 (Reuters) – El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo became the first player from central America to claim a Grand Slam title when he paired up with Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands to win the men’s doubles final at the French Open on Saturday.

Arevalo and Rojer, seeded 12th, beat Croatian Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 after saving three match points and converting their only break chance.

At last year’s U.S. Open, Arevalo was the first player from central America to take part in a final at a major.

On Saturday, he converted his second opportunity with a gritty performance on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Dodig and Krajicek, who had come from a set down to eliminate top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the quarter-finals, did not face a single break point in the opening set.

Their opponents saved five but conceded the set in the tiebreak as the unseeded duo remained strong on serve.

The second set was a carbon copy of the first until the tiebreak, when Arevalo and Rojer made the most of their chances.

They finally broke for 4-2 in the decider and held throughout, ending it with a service game to love.

Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar

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