Pierre-Hugues Herbert (right) and Nicolas Mahut of France kiss the trophy after defeating Jamie Murray of Britain and John Peers of Australia in the men's doubles final at the US Open in New York yesterday. The French pair won in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. (Reuters)

AFP/New York


Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert won the US Open men’s doubles crown yesterday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Britain’s Jamie Murray and Australian John Peers.
Mahut and Herbert, Australian Open runners-up earlier this year, won their first Grand Slam doubles crown and became the first all-French duo to capture a US Open men’s doubles title.
“I’m kind of speechless now,” Mahut said. “We were working so hard for so many years to win this kind of tournament. We said before the match, ‘Let’s go for it,’ and we did.”
Murray, the brother of former US Open champion Andy Murray, and Peers suffered another near miss, having lost the Wimbledon final in July.
“Starting to know what Andy felt like
for a long time,” Murray said, a reference to his brother losing his first four Grand
Slam singles finals before breaking
through for his first major win at the 2012 US Open.
“A lot of hard work has gone into the team the last 2 ½ years. We’ll try our best to keep going and get across the line.”
Both Mahut and Herbert reached an ATP singles final this year as a qualifier, Herbert losing at Winston-Salem and Mahut winning at ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Herbert was 0-4 at Slams before teaming up with Mahut at this year’s Australian Open and they are 14-3 since.
“It feels actually great,” Herbert said. “I’m really so happy to win a Grand Slam.”
Murray was 9-23 in majors before partnering with Peers at the 2013 French Open and they have gone 23-10 since.
“It has been a lot of fun but unfortunately we didn’t do it today,” Peers said.
Other than US siblings Bob and Mike Bryan, Murray and Peers are the first team since Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic to reach consecutive Slam men’s doubles final since the 2010 French Open.
The French duo had won their only prior meeting with Murray and Peers in a ‘s-Hertogenbosch semi-final earlier this year.