Patten and Heliovaara suffer straight-sets defeat in French Open final
Britain’s Henry Patten and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara suffered a 6-4 6-2 defeat against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the French Open men’s doubles final on Saturday.
The second seeds entered the championship match having not dropped a single set on the Parisian clay.
However, they were comprehensively outplayed on Court Philippe-Chatrier by the top-seeded defending champions.
Despite the straight-sets loss, the reigning Wimbledon champions will be crowned joint world number ones in the updated rankings on Monday.
Service struggles cost second seeds
The showpiece event was largely characterised by erratic serving from both sides of the net.
Three breaks of serve occurred in a disrupted opening set before the Spanish-Argentine partnership successfully asserted their dominance.
Granollers and Zeballos broke immediately in the second set and raced into a commanding 3-0 advantage.
While the challengers managed to reclaim one break when the British specialist smashed away a weak second-serve return, they immediately surrendered their own service game again.
Granollers and Zeballos retain Parisian crown
Serving to stay in the championship at 5-1 down, Heliovaara produced a deft slice net volley to temporarily halt the impending defeat.
Yet the reprieve proved brief as Granollers delivered a superb final service game to seal their third major title together.
A powerful groundstroke from the Spaniard forced an error from Patten, who framed the ball into the crowd to conclude the contest.
British drought continues despite doubles boom
This result means the wait for a British men’s doubles champion at Roland Garros extends beyond 90 years.
Fred Perry and Pat Hughes remain the last British men to lift the trophy in the French capital following their triumph in 1933.
Nevertheless, the domestic game is currently enjoying a remarkable golden age in the doubles format.
Five British players reached the semi-finals of the season-ending ATP Finals late last year, an event ultimately won by the soon-to-be world number ones.