ATP Tour

Arribage/Olivetti clinch Auckland crown

Theo Arribage and Albano Olivetti captured their maiden tour-level title of the season on Saturday when they earned a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over Alexander Erler and Robert Galloway in the ASB Classic final in Auckland.

The all-French duo did not drop en route to the final and carried that momentum into the championship match, where they produced a dominant serving performance. They fired 12 aces and won 79 per cent (33/42) of their first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to claim their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Erler and Galloway in one hour and 22 minutes.

"The good thing is that we are keeping it up, our service games. This week we got broken only once in four matches, which is pretty good," Olivetti said. "We found a way and we are talking a lot about strategy and tactics [which] worked for us."

The unseeded pair of Arribage and Olivetti had defeated second seeds Francisco Cabral and Lucas Miedler, who won the Brisbane crown last week, in the semi-finals.

“During the match, we stayed positive. We stayed calm. So I think it’s the part of the victory," Arribage said. We are very happy to win this one. I think it was a very good week for us."

The victory marked Arribage’s third doubles ATP Tour title and Olivetti’s fourth. They won their first title as a team last year at the Almaty Open.

Heliovaara/Patten triumph in Adelaide
Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten began their season in style with victory at the Adelaide International. The second seeds overcame Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-3, 6-2 to lift the trophy at the ATP 250 event.

Heliovaara and Patten have now won nine tour-level titles as a team, including major trophies at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. The Finn-British team will next head to Melbourne, where they will aim to defend the title.