Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and Croatian Mate Pavic enjoyed a dream team debut in Stuttgart as they defeated Tim Puetz and Michael Venus to win the title.
Before the tournament started, Pavic’s regular Tour partner Nikola Mektic pulled out of the tournament.
Pavic asked Hurkacz whether he was interested in teaming up with him and the two ended up winning the title.
In the Stuttgart final, Hurkacz and Pavic handed a 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) loss to third-seeded Puetz and Venus.
As not a single break point was seen in the first set, the opener had to be resolved in a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Hurkacz and Pavic won the first two points and never looked back as they dominated the tie-break to win the opener.
The first break points of the match were finally seen in the eighth game of the second set, when Hurkacz and Pavic missed out on two break points, which could have given them a 5-3 second set lead.
Instead, not a single break was seen and the second set also had to be decided in a tie-break.
In the tie-break, the two teams were tied to three points apiece before Hurkacz and Pavic won three points in a row to open a 6-3 lead.
Hurkacz and Pavic missed out on their first two match points but realized their third match point to complete a straight-set win.
Wesley Koolhof, Neal Skupski join Hurkacz, Pavic on the winners’ circle
Elsewhere, second-seeded Koolhof and Skupski recovered from a set down to beat Matt Ebden and Max Purcell 4-6 7-5 10-6 in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final.
Ebden and Purcell claimed the first break of the match in the fifth game to open a 3-2 lead and then held on to their serve the rest of the first set to claim the opener.
After winning the first set, Ebden and Purcell started the second set with a break but Koolhof and Skupski were able to recover as they broke back in the sixth game to tie the set to three games apiece.
Koolhof and Skupski missed out on two set points in the 10th game but still won the second set after breaking Ebden and Purcell in the 12th game.
After winning the second set, Koolhof and Skupski won four points in a row to open a 6-2 lead in the match tie-break.
Koolhof and Skupski never looked back after taking a 6-2 lead as they realized their second match point a few points later to complete a big comeback win.
It was the fifth title of the year for Koolhof and Skupski.