NEW YORK: Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury redeemed a nightmare season by edging out Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a clash of slender margins.
The American-British duo, who were no.12 in ATP Race, coming into the last major of the year, became the first men's doubles pairing in the Open Era (since 1968) to claim three successive US Open men's doubles crowns.
Bopanna and Ebden, who will go up to No.7 and 8 in the individual doubles ranking on Monday, won one point more than their opponents in the total count, (81-80).
"We are No. 3 in the Race, we're top-10. We're looking good for Turin," Ebden said of the ATP's season-ending tournament, the biggest title after the Grand Slams. "There's a lot of points on offer, a bit of work to do, for sure. Maybe Shanghai or Paris Masters or Turin, maybe that's going to be our big one for this year."
"If you look at the four Grand Slams, where we probably realistically had a good shot to win (three), the French, is a slightly tougher ask," said Ebden. "It's disappointing, but I'm pretty happy where we're at. I think we're building the partnership."
