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Wimbledon 2023 results: Britain's Neal Skupski and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof into doubles final

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Published in Tennis
Thursday, 13 July 2023 12:09

Britain's Neal Skupski says winning Wimbledon would be the "holy grail" after he reached the men's doubles final with Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof.

They beat India's Rohan Bopanna and Australian Matthew Ebden 7-5 6-4 to reach a first Wimbledon final.

The top seeds have never won a Grand Slam together having teamed up 18 months ago.

"This is the pinnacle achievement if we can get over the line," Skupski said.

"We want to win our first Grand Slam together and for me it would be extra special to do it here at Wimbledon."

The duo will meet 15th seeds Argentinian Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers of Spain in Saturday's final on Centre Court.

Skupski's brother Ken, his former doubles partner and now coach after he retired last year, will miss the final after booking a holiday and not realising it would clash with the match.

Ken had been due to go on Thursday but opted to stay to be there for his brother's semi-final match but will now travel to Ibiza on Friday.

"I'm sure he'd love to be here but he doesn't get to go on holiday very often because he's on the tour with me quite a bit," said Skupski.

"He'll enjoy the time away with his family but I'm sure he'll have a close eye on the final on Saturday."

Having won the mixed doubles in 2021 and 2022 with American partner Desirae Krawczyk, Skupski is bidding to become the first Briton to win a non-wheelchair Wimbledon title three consecutive years since 1937 when Dorothy Round did it.

Skupski has gone beyond the third round only once before in men's doubles at Wimbledon, in 2017, and there has not been a British men's doubles champion at SW19 since Jonathan Marray won alongside Danish partner Frederik Nielsen in 2012.

"It is always nice to have a Brit at the end of the tournament at Wimbledon. Luckily, it's been myself over the last couple of years in the mixed doubles," Skupski said.

"I saw Jonny [Marray] earlier and asked him if he had any tips for me going into the semi-final.

"He didn't give me any, he just laughed and said, 'You're number one, you'll be fine'. So those are the words of wisdom he had for me."

In a semi-final match packed with entertaining rallies and tense volleys at the net, Skupski and Koolhof needed just one break in each set to seal victory.

Some nerves were evident in the opener as Skupski hit three double faults to gift Bopanna and Ebden break points but the Briton eventually steadied himself to take the hold.

He cut a more composed figure after that, hitting a forehand winner through the middle to seal the break before serving out the opening set.

Bopanna, 43, hit two double faults of his own in the second set before firing one into the net to hand Skupski and Koolhof the crucial break.

With the roof closed on Court One, a cheer echoed around the arena as the pair brought up two match points and Koolhof sealed it at the first time of asking with a thumping ace.

Their opponents in the final, Zeballos and Granollers, reached the final by beating German 10th seeds Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz, who knocked out Britain's Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the quarter-finals.

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