ATP Doha: David Goffin and Pierre-Hugues Herbert claim doubles title
Belgium's David Goffin and French Pierre-Hugues Herbert have won the 2019 Qatar ExxonMobil Open men's doubles title.
Goffin, 28, and 27-year-old Herbert came from a set down to beat Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop in the Doha final 5-7 6-4 10-4.
Goffin and Herbert appeared to be cruising to comfortably winning the first set as they broke the Dutch duo in the first and fifth game to take a 4-1 lead.
Yet, Haase and Middelkoop refused to give up on the first set as they stormed back to steal the opener.
The turning point of the match came in the eighth game of the second set -- when Goffin and Herbert saved two break points to level the set at 4-4.
Goffin and Herbert then broke the Dutch duo in the ninth game before they routinely served out for the set in the following game.
Haase and Middelkoop never stood the chance in the match tie-break as Goffin and Herbert got off to a quick 4-0 lead and eventually sealed the win in an hour and 18 minutes of play.
Goffin and Herbert, who debuted as a pair at the Barcelona Open in 2017, were playing together just for the second time.
Goffin and Herbert won their opening match in straight sets against Karen Khachanov and Stan Wawrinka but then had to work hard in their following three matches.
Goffin and Herbert also clinched a three-set win over Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya in the quarter-final before they beat Novak Djokovic and Marko Djokovic in a three-setter in the semi-final respectively.
On the other side, Haase and Middelkoop fell just short of winning their fourth doubles title.
Full result:
David Goffin (BEL) & Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) d. Robin Haase (NED) & Matwe Middelkoop (NED) 5-7 6-4 10-4
Also read: Roger Rasheed: Unseeded Nick Kyrgios could be big threat at Australian Open
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2R8cTeJ
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