cinch Championships 2024: Neal Skupski and Michael Venus clinch men’s doubles crown at the Queen’s Club
• 3 MINUTE READ
Britain’s Neal Skupski and New Zealand’s Michael Venus sealed their first title as a partnership, after clawing past Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 in the men’s doubles final at the cinch Championships.
This week marked Skupski and Venus' second tournament competing alongside each other, having been knocked out in the first round of the Boss Open last week. However, the pair showed their brilliance throughout the week - dropping just one set en route to the trophy at the Queen's Club.
34-year-old Skupski now becomes the first Brit to claim the doubles crown since Andy Murray teamed up with Feliciano Lopez in 2019, while Venus became the first player from New Zealand to win the title in the Open Era.
Meanwhile, singles stars Fritz and Khachanov joined forces for the first time this week at the ATP 500 event and took down some of the world's best doubles pairs on their journey to the championship match.
"It’s been a great week" Fritz said. "First time we’ve played together and making a final, we can take a lot of positives. Congrats to Neal and Michael for the title, the fans are probably happy to have a home winner!"
Both pairs remained solid behind their serves, with neither facing a break point until 4-4 in the opening where Khachanov and Fritz sprinted to a break to love at their first opportunity, before consolidating to take a one set advantage.
The British, Kiwi duo fought toe-to-toe against their opponents in a bid to shift the momentum in the second. Having caught sight of a break point at 4-4, Fritz and Khachanov soon batted away any threat, as we headed towards a tie-break which would fall the way of Skupski and Venus.
With the title in touching distance for both teams, it was the seventh seeds who raised their level in the match deciding tie-break. Having won 88% of points behind their first serve across the match, Skupski and Venus proved hard to break down as they grasped a hold of a crucial break to take control, before seeing out the victory on their third match point.
Skupski and Venus will now head to the Rothesay International Eastbourne before returning to SW19 where the Briton will attempt to defend his men's doubles crown at The Championships, Wimbledon.
Catch up with all of the results from the 2024 cinch Championships