The Croatian-German combination surprised in the finals in Flushing Meadows against the American pair CoCo Wandewegh and Rajeev Ram
After 78 years Croatia again has a Grand Slam winner in mixed couples. The successor of Dragutin Mitić who went all the way in Roland Garros in 1938 with Simone Mathieu is 23-year-old Split native Mate Pavić with his partner Laura Siegmund from Germany. The Croatian-German combination surprised in the finals in Flushing Meadows against the American pair CoCo Wandewegh and Rajeev Ram with 6:4, 6:4, Jutarnji List reported on September 9, 2016.
Pavić is only the eight Croatian representative that can boast a Grand Slam title, where his predecessors include Goran Ivanišević, Marin Čilić and Iva Majoli in singles and Ivan Dodig, Mirjana Lučić, Nikola Pilić and Dragutin Mitić in couples.
The left-handed player from Split, 34th in the couples ranking and 28-year-old German, currently 27th in the WTA ranking, achieved a career high in New York, winning the US Open without a lost set. Against Wandewegh and Ram they won the first set thanks to a break at 4-4, opening the second set with another break, only to have the American couple take their service for 1-1.
A break worthy of a title came at 3-3, with Mate and Laura saving the advantage until the end of the match, granting them a cash prize of $75.000 each.
This is Pavić’s sixth couples title in his career, first in mixed couples, while the other five were won with his partner from New Zealand Michael Venus. This year Ivan Dodig and Indian Sania Mirza were defeated in the finals of mixed couples in Roland Garros.
