Madrid, Spain, 5 May 2024 | Leigh Rogers

Jordan Thompson has become the first Australian to win a Madrid Masters men’s doubles title.

The 30-year-old capped an incredible and history-making run alongside American Sebastian Korda by recording a 6-3 7-6(7) victory against Uruguay’s Ariel Behar and Czech Adam Pavlasek in the final.

Thompson and 23-year-old Korda proved clutch under pressure in the championship match, saving all six break points they faced in the 77-minute encounter.

They managed to fight back from a 1-4 deficit in the second-set tiebreak, and then save one set point, before closing out victory.

The dream ending to a dream week🤩@jordanthommmo2 & @SebiKorda dispatch Behar/Pavlasek 6-3 7-6 (7) to claim the title in Madrid!@mutuamadridopen | #MMOpen pic.twitter.com/UZHNbP4x88

— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 4, 2024

The duo, who had never teamed up before this week, defeated 10 opponents ranked inside the world’s top 40 throughout their title-winning run. This included world No.1 Matt Ebden and world No.2 Rohan Bopanna in the opening round.

Thompson and Korda only dropped a single set too, against the experienced combination of Brit Jamie Murray and New Zealand’s Michael Venus in the semifinals.

This stunning effort sees Thompson rewarded with his sixth – and biggest – career ATP doubles title.

It is the world No.58’s fourth this season, having also captured three ATP 250 titles with compatriot Max Purcell. His impressive season record in doubles now stands at 22 wins from his 26 matches.

“This was our first tournament together, it was a pretty good one,” world No.185 Korda said after capturing his maiden ATP doubles title.

“It was a lot of fun playing with Jordan.”

Disaster almost struck for the pair in the pre-final warm-up, when Thompson cut himself above his left eye with his own racquet.

“He hit too good of a return and I just smoked myself in the head,” Thompson told ATPTour.com. “I thought I was heading for the ER.”

After soldiering on with “a bit of a headache”, Thompson declared the champion’s trophy “will help smooth things out”.

Thompson joins exclusive company as only the 16th Australian to capture an ATP Masters 1000 doubles crown since their introduction in 1990, and just the seventh to achieve the feat on clay.

The last Australian to triumph at this level on clay was Paul Hanley, at Hamburg 18 years ago.

Thompson’s performance this week is set to be rewarded with a new career-high ranking. He is projected to break into the world’s top 40, smashing his previous peak of world No.57 achieved last month.

He plans to team up again with Korda at next week’s ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome.

Aussies in action – Madrid

RESULTS
Men’s doubles, final
Jordan Thompson (AUS)/Sebastian Korda (USA) d Ariel Behar (URU)/Adam Pavlasek (CZE) 6-3 7-6(7)

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