BEIJING, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Slovakia's Filip Polasek took a surprise win in the China Open men's doubles final here Sunday, beating tournament second seeds Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Brazil's Marcelo Melo.
Dodig/Polasek made a mockery of their unseeded status, taking the first set with minimum fuss after breaking Kubot/Melo at 3-2 to secure a speedy win in just over half an hour.
It looked as if the second set would follow a similar pattern, after Dodig/Polasek broke Kubot/Melo in the very first game to advance into a 2-0 lead.
But some solid return play helped Kubot/Melo turn the set on its head, breaking their opponents twice in succession to move 5-2 ahead.
Undeterred at having let their handsome advantage slip, Dodig/Polasek saved a set point at 5-3 down to break their opponents once more and force a second set tiebreak, which they duly closed out 7-4 to take the China Open men's doubles crown.
There was also a surprise in the women's doubles final, as wildcard entrants Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the U.S. claimed their latest scalp of the tournament, defeating Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko and Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-7.
Both pairs began the match stronger on return than on serve, with three of the first four games resulting in service being broken.
However, Kenin/Mattek-Sands notably saved four break points when serving at 3-1 up, helping the pair on their way to hold serve for the rest of the set and seal a 6-3 win.
Clearly unruffled by losing the first set, Ostapenko/Yastremska raced into a 3-0 lead at the start of the second set, but then saw that advantage evaporate as they lost two consecutive service games, enabling Kenin/Mattek-Sands to come back and lead 4-3.
But just when it seemed momentum had well and truly shifted, Ostapenko/Yastremska immediately hit back with a break of their own, with both pairs holding serve for the rest of the match until a tiebreak, which the eastern European duo edged to set up a decider.
Perhaps overawed by the occasion, neither pair looked confident on serve in the deciding tiebreak, with seven of the first nine points going to the returning duo, but a series of five points in a row helped take Kenin/Mattek-Sands to victory in their first tournament as a pair.
