Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, taboo broken: the Miami Open is theirs
Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori did it. The Italian pair won the men’s doubles final at the Miami Open, clinching the first career Masters 1000 title for both of them. The victory came in just over an hour of play over Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, number 4 in the seeding, who succumbed in just two sets and by the score of 6-4, 6-2. They were coming off four wins in a row over the two Italians, who thus dispelled two taboos in a single victory at the end of a match that progressively turned into a genuine domination.
The two sets had a rather similar trend. In both Bolelli and Vavassori have the strength to take the break already in the opening game, enough to control operations until 5-3. The Azzurri could close the score as early as the next game, when, however, the Briton and the Finn managed to cancel as many as four set points. Three more came during the tenth game, the one in which the Italian pair finally managed to close the accounts by taking home a set largely controlled from the beginning.
In fact, the pattern repeated itself in the second set, immediately directed to their advantage by Bolelli and Vavassori with another break. Heliovaara and Patten never manage to get back into the match, especially after thwarting the ball of the eventual 2-2 counterbreak. No more jolts come until the seventh game, in which again the Azzurri snatched their service from their opponents, conceding them only one point. The next round of serve is consumed in the blink of an eye, with the rivals at 0 and the almost brutal closing of the set and match.
Winning the Miami Open, Bolelli and Vavassori win their ninth title as a pair. As mentioned, however, it is their first Masters 1000 ever. They had previously put six ATP 500 and two ATP 250 tournaments in their trophy cases. In addition, this new trophy allows them to gain seven positions in the Specialty Race, where they are now third.
During this season Bolelli and Vavassori had already won the tournament in Rotterdam, while in both Adelaide and Qatar they had lost to just the “usual” Heliovaara and Patten. Worth mentioning are the three finals lost by the two blues in as many Slam finals: the two at the Australian Open (2024 and 2025) and the 2024 edition of Roland Garros.
