Tennis-Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin win French Open mixed doubles title

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PARIS (Reuters) -Laura Siegemund and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski 6-4 7-5 to win their maiden mixed doubles title together at the French Open on Thursday.

The victory gave Germany’s Siegemund a second mixed doubles Grand Slam crown while it was a first for Frenchman Roger-Vasselin which made it all the more special as it came on home soil.

“This was a last minute thing, I didn’t want to play mixed (doubles) here because I was in the singles and doubles also,” Siegemund said at the trophy presentation ceremony.

“Then Edouard texted me two hours before the deadline… I always wanted to play with him but it was somehow not working out.

“Then I was like, ‘I can’t say no’. Now he’s finally free, he wants to play so I think it was a good decision!”

Meanwhile, it was a second straight loss in a Grand Slam final for Krawczyk and Skupski following their defeat at the Australian Open final in a match tiebreaker.

Number two seeds Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin broke in the first game of the match and consolidated a 2-0 lead but Skupski and Krawczyk tried to fight back and had their moments with some key winners.

Yet the German-French duo held their serve and their teamwork, movement and communication helped them take the opening set when Siegemund smashed a cross-court winner at the net.

Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin capitalised in the second set when they targeted Krawczyk’s serve, as they broke to love in the third game to take a 2-1 lead.

At 4-2, they repeated the same tactic as Krawczyk struggled on serve, leaving Skupski in difficult situations at the net.

But Krawczyk, a four-times Grand Slam mixed doubles winner, managed to hold before Skupski helped them break for the first time in the contest, letting out a load roar at the net after he smashed a winner.

On the deciding point at 4-4 on Skupski’s serve, Krawczyk missed an easy shot at the net which went wide to hand Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin the crucial break, but the British-American pair saved a championship point off the Frenchman’s serve.

But for a third time in the set, they targeted Krawczyk’s serve and broke as Siegemund got the better of Skupski twice at the net.

The German then held serve as they clinched a first Grand Slam title together when Skupsi found the net on championship point.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru;Editing by Bernadette Baum and Toby Davis)