This is what you dream about playing in these tournaments and these occasions so to play like we did and come away with the trophy is unbelievable. Michael Venus

Grand slam champion

By Roger Childs

While the focus at Roland Garros was on the singles and whether Rafael Nadal could win his tenth title and unseeded Jelena Ostapenko could win the women’s singles, the doubles events were also proceeding.

The unseeded pairing of American Ryan Harrison and New Zealander Michael Venus were nearly beaten in straight sets in the third round, but survived to make the final.

Here they met Donald Young and Santiago Gonzales, also unseeded.

Success in a tight match

The first two sets went to tie-breaks with Harrison and Venus taking the first, and Young and Gonzales the second 7-4. In the deciding set games went with serve until the sixth game.

After taking Gonzales serve but then losing theirs the American-Kiwi combination eventually won 6-3 on the second match point.

In the modern era only two New Zealand players have won doubles titles, Onny Parun in Paris in 1974 and Judy Chaloner in Melbourne in the Australian Open in 1979.

Parun was thrilled with Venus’s win. He played absolutely brilliant(ly). Apart from a hairy finish, it got a bit tight toward the end and I think they tightened up, but he was definitely the best player on the court.