Miami Open 2021 - British duo Dan Evans and Neal Skupski lose in doubles final in straight sets

ByEurosport

Updated 04/04/2021 at 13:42 GMT

Dan Evans and Neal Skupski were only the third all-British duo to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final and their surprise run in Florida was put to an end by the impressive Croat pair in straight sets in one hour and 16 minutes. Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic's aggressive baseline game forced the British duo into a string of errors at the net.

Neal Skupski (L) and Daniel Evans (R) pose with the runner's up trophy

Image credit: Getty Images

British pair Dan Evans and Neal Skupski lost 6-4 6-4 in the Miami Open final to Croatian duo Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic on Saturday.

It spelt the end of a dream run for the makeshift duo and Evans, in particular, who was playing in his first-ever ATP doubles final alongside compatriot Skupski.

They progressed to the final after stunning reigning Australian Open champions Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek 7-6(4), 1-6, 10-8 on Thursday.

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But Mektic and Pavic were simply too good as the Croatians sealed their fifth men's doubles tournament title this year.

Evans and Skupski were the first to break and make it 3-2 before Mektic and Pavic recovered with two of their own to take the opening set. The second was another tight affair, but Mektic and Pavic capitalised on their first match point at 5-4 up on the Brits' serve.

Mektic said post-match: "It means a lot to win with a friend, with a fellow Croatian, to win such a big tournament.

But like we said, we just started, so I hope we are going to have much more to celebrate.

"I think they played a very good match, very solid," Pavic said.

"They started off very well. They were also returning great from the beginning of the match... they played some great games.

"They are a tough team, and they proved that also with a few big wins this week to get to the final.

"I think we were just very solid, very confident with all these matches that we won from before and we played a great match."

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