Kontinen-Peers win Paris Masters doubles title

Paris, Nov 6 (IANS) Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia beat top-seeded Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut over three hard-fought sets here on Sunday to lift the Paris Masters men's doubles trophy.

The unseeded duo broke their opponents as early as in the third game of the first set before wrapping up a 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 victory in one hour and 15 minutes, reports Xinhua.

"We were behind the score from the start, and that was bad. But after, indeed we came back. In the second set we were able to be ahead," said Mahut after the match.

"But the super-tiebreak is always something very special. They continued to play well, and they were a bit lucky here and there with some shots. In a super-tiebreak where every point is important, it made it tough," the 34-year-old added.

Kontinen, 26, smashed six aces but committed four double faults, alongside with Peers' five aces and just one double fault, while Herbert, 25, and Mahut had a 7-5 record.

With this victory, Kontinen and Peers, who first teamed up at Brisbane in January, avenged their quarter-final loss at Wimbledon, where the Frenchmen came out the eventual winners.

It was the first Masters 1000 crown for Kontinen and Peers, while Herbert and Mahut failed to claim their fourth title of this level in 2016. Ahead of Sunday's final, the French duo had a 41-9 match record with five titles in six finals.

It has been 10 years without a French pair having captured the title in Bercy since Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra in 2006.

--IANS

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