Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara advance to Wimbledon doubles final
Great Britain’s Henry Patten and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara have reached their second Wimbledon men’s doubles final in three years after defeating Aleksandar Kovacevic and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The world number one pairing maintained their bid to reclaim the title with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (10-8) victory at the All England Club.
That result means the 2024 champions have now won six of the seven tie-breaks they have contested over the past fortnight.
Tie-break specialists set up Queen’s rematch
The top-ranked duo demonstrated their resilience by coming through 10-point match tie-breaks in their three previous rounds to reach this stage.
Having only joined forces in 2024, the Anglo-Finnish team will now seek to secure their third Grand Slam title together.
Their impressive trophy cabinet already includes their inaugural Wimbledon crown and the 2025 Australian Open championship.
In Saturday’s showpiece, the title hopefuls will face El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo and Croatia’s Mate Pavic.
Nerves and butterflies expected on Centre Court
Arevalo and Pavic present a formidable challenge, having recently defeated the British-Finnish pairing in the grass-court final at Queen’s Club last month.
The Croatian is a winner of all four major tournaments, while his Salvadoran partner is a two-time French Open doubles champion.
The experienced duo also eliminated Britain’s defending champions Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool earlier in the week.
It feels great. Big emotions of joy, relief, happiness, all of those things.
It is what you dream of doing. We’re a bit tired, but we’re over the moon.
Speaking to BBC TV, the British finalist admitted that walking out for the championship match will still be an overwhelming experience.
I expect we’ll still be quite nervous. There’s no getting away from that – it’s the final at Wimbledon on Centre Court.
It’s a unique feeling. The butterflies will definitely be there.