February 20, 2021 - Incredible news to start Sunday morning in Croatia, as Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek become Australian Open men's doubles champions!

36-year-old Croatian doubles expert Ivan Dodig has claimed the Australian Open title in the men's doubles competition! With partner Filip Polasek, they defeated Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Rama 6:3, 6:4.

This is the first joint Grand Slam title for the Croatian Davis Cup national team member and Slovak partner, who defeated the defending champions American Rajeev Ram and Briton Joe Salisbury in Sunday's Australian Open final after 88 minutes of great tennis. 

This is Dodig's second Grand Slam trophy in men's doubles, after he won the first in 2015 at Roland Garros with Brazilian partner Marcelo Melo. In addition, the 36-year-old from Medjugorje also has three trophies from mixed doubles with Taiwanese partner Latisha Chan, with whom he won Roland Garros twice (2018 and 2019) and Wimbledon once (2019). Filip Polasek became only the second Slovak to win a Grand Slam title, and before him, only Daniela Hantuchova managed the same in mixed doubles.

Raw emotion ?

The moment @DodigTennis and Filip Polasek became #AO2021 men's doubles champions ?#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/6ePpqqmaJb

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 21, 2021

Dodig and Polasek played an excellent final without allowing Ram and Salisbury to break, while they took advantage of two out of 15 opportunities, one in each set.

In the first set, they broke Salisbury's serve in the eighth game, and reached the decisive tie break in the seventh game of the second set, again on their opponent's serve, when Ivan Dodig sent back an indefensible forehand. The Croatian-Slovak pair missed the first match point on Ram's serve in the eighth game, but in the next game, Polasek convincingly served for the biggest triumph in their career.

The moment @DodigTennis and Filip Polasek were waiting for ?#AusOpen men's doubles champions ?#AO2021 pic.twitter.com/8XZAw79DXR

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 21, 2021

How well Dodig and Polasek played is best illustrated by the statement of their rival Joe Salisbury.

"I think this was the best match played in the final ever," said the Briton after the match.

Dodig and Polasek received the winning trophy from one of the last greats of Australian tennis, Patrick Rafter, and for the triumph in Melbourne Park, they will share 600,000 AUD, which is about HRK 3.75 million.

Ivan Dodig became the fourth Croatian to win a Grand Slam title in the senior competition in Melbourne Park. Mirjana Lučić Baroni won the women's doubles title with Martina Hingis in 1998, Mate Pavić was the winner in two competitions in 2018, the men's doubles with Austrian Oliver Marach, and mixed doubles with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, while Nikola Mektić celebrated last year in mixed doubles with Czech Barbora Krejčikova.

Source: HRT

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November 2, 2019 - Ivan Dodig and partner Filip Polasek have advanced to the semifinal of the Paris Masters - and booked a spot in the ATP Finals in London!

Croatian tennis player Ivan Dodig and Slovakian partner Filip Polasek are among the top eight doubles teams in the world to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held in London from November 10 to 17, 2019. 

Dodig and Polasek advanced to the semifinal of the Masters 1000 Series ATP tournament in Bercy (Paris Masters) with a victory over American Rajeev Ram and British player Joe Salisbury in the quarters - 6:3, 6:7 (5), 10:7, though this success was not ultimately necessary for them to book a spot in London.

Namely, the legendary Americans Bob and Mike Bryan (seventh in the ‘Race for London’) pulled out of all tournaments until the end 2019, thus virtually securing Dodig and Polasek a spot among the eight best doubles teams. 

Of course, it helped that Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut celebrated in the quarterfinal of the Paris Masters against Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin, who still had a theoretical chance to skip ahead of Dodig and Polasek - that is, if they won the title. 

This is an excellent success for Dodig and Polasek, who have only been playing together since June this year, and who already have titles from Cincinnati and Beijing and can boast the Wimbledon semifinal.

This will be Dodig’s sixth appearance in the ATP Finals with three different partners. Dodig has played four finals so far with Brazilian Marcelo Melo (2013 - 2016) and in 2017 with Spanish player Marcel Granollers. This will be Polasek’s first appearance in the final.

The Croat and the Slovakian team thus continue their march in Bercy, and their rivals for a spot in Sunday's final will be Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov, who defeated Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov in the quarters. 

Source: HTS

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October 6, 2019 - Croatian Davis Cup representative  Ivan Dodig and Slovakian tennis player Filip Polasek won the doubles title at the ATP 500 Series tournament in Beijing - the China Open. 

Namely, HRT reports that Dodig and Polasek defeated Polish player Lukasz Kubot and Brazilian player Marcelo Melo 6-3, 7-6 (4) in Sunday's final. 

Kubot and Melo led in the second set 5:2, and at 5:4, they also missed a set point on their serve, though they still found the way to the victory in two sets.

"We had a good time all week. We played good matches. The final was a really exciting match. It was very nice to play in front of a lot of people. We really enjoyed the quality of the match, [it was] very high,” said Dodig for the ATP Tour.

"The first set was really, really good from our side. We started well. In the second set, we also made the break in the beginning. We [had the match] under control. Then they played one really good game, broke back… In the end, we were a little bit better in the crucial moments. I think we deserved to win this final even though the match could go both ways."

This was the third joint final and the second triumph for Dodig and Polasek after reaching their first trophy at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 Series tournament. Dodig has thus won his 15th doubles trophy in his 30th final, while Polasek won his 14th in his 29th final.

The winners were awarded $228,110 and 500 points, while Kubot and Melo will take home 300 points and $111,660, respectively.

Thanks to these 500 points, Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek have climbed to 9th place in the race for London, where the top eight doubles teams of 2019 will compete in the final tournament at the London O2 Arena. Dodig and Polasek have 2460 points, which is 200 less than the current 8th-placed US-British team of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor are ranked 13th with 2020 points and still have a good chance of reaching the final tournament, too. 

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