Gonzalo Escobar (Ecuador) and Alexander Nedovyesov (Kazakhstan) are the new Sofia Open Doubles Champions. They saved two match points in the third set and won Julian Cash (Great Britain) and Nikola Mektic (Croatia) 6:3, 3:6, 13:11 in 1:25 hours at the Center Court of “Arena Sofia”.
Thus, Mektic couldn’t become the second two-time champion in doubles after Matwe Middelkoop from the Netherlands (winner in 2016 with W. Koolhof and 2018 with R. Haase).
The Croatian, who won the Olympic Doubles Title in Tokyo in 2023 and is former world #1, won the final with Jurgen Meltzer in 2019 and played but lost the final in 2018.
It is Escobar and Nedovyesov’s second title since their triumph in Bastad (Sweden) in July in their fourth overall doubles final of the season. The title is the fifth in doubles overall for Escobar and second for Nedovyesov.
The Ecuadorian and the Kazakh got off to a flying start and led 3-0 in the first set. Mektic and Cash came back strong in the second and led 4-1. The Croatian-British double led 10-9 in the tie-break but allowed a new low and lost. Cash and Mektic came within a point of victory at 10:9 and 11:10 but fell short.
The tournament is held with the support of Inbet, Nova Broadcasting Group, А1, Diema Extra, Electrohold, Sofiamed, First Investment Bank, Europa Bullion, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Tourism.
