June 7, 2019 - Ivan Dodig and Taiwanese partner Latisha Chan have defended their mixed doubles title at Roland Garros!

Mate Pavić and Ivan Dodig met in the mixed doubles final at Roland Garros on Friday with their partners Gabriela Dabrowski and Latisha Chan.

Recall, the second-seeded Dabrowski and Pavić secured their place in the final after defeating Ukraine's Nadiia Kichenok and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6:7 (4), 6:1, 10:8 on Thursday, while Dodig and Chan defeated American Nicole Melichar and Brazilian Bruno Soares, the first seed of the tournament, in the other semi-final 6:2, 6:1.

Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan made their first major step towards defending the Roland Garros title by winning the first set with a very convincing 6:1. It took Dodig and Chan only 23 minutes to take the set from Pavić and Dabrowski.

However, Pavić and Dabrowski were not going to let them get ahead so easy, and in the second set, they led 4:1. Dodig and Chan came back to win three consecutive games in the second set, equalizing at 4:4 ​​and serving against Pavić and Dabrowski - and then equaled at 5:5! The second set then entered a tie-break.

In the end, it was Dodig and Chan to prevail yet again! The Croatian-Taiwanese duo defeated Pavić and Dabrowski 6:1, 7:6 in just 79 minutes. 

This is the second year in a row that Croatia has a winner in the Grand Slam tournament in Paris. Recall, in 2018, Dodig and Chan celebrated against Pavić and Dabrowski 6:1, 6:7, 10:8.

Both Dodig and Pavić already have Grand Slam titles with their current partners. Namely, Dodig and Chan celebrated at Roland Garros last year, while Pavić and Dabrowski won the Australian Open last year. Pavić and German partner Friedsam won the 2016 title at US Open, too. 

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