Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna- Getty Images

Underdogs Triumph in Doubles

June 9, 2008

At the beginning of the French Open, no one could have predicted the fashion in which the doubles draw would unfold. With a countless number of upsets and some dramatic three-set victories, the unheralded team of Pablos Cuevas and Luis Horna walked away with their first Grand Slam doubles title in only their second professional tournament as a team.

Their win came at the expense of several high-profile teams including the top-seeded Americans Mike and Bob Bryan in the quarters as well as No. 2 seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the final 6-2, 6-3.

Nestor (Toronto) and Zimonjic (Serbia) were the heavy favourites after all other seeded teams were eliminated by the end of the quarter-finals. They have also been on a stellar roll reaching the final at the ATP Master Series in Rome and then capturing a Masters Shield the following week in Hamburg. Nestor was also entering the competition as the defending champion (with former partner Mark Knowles) so he had a lot of points to defend. Unfortunately for him, he had to face a team that was just playing too well.

"We were expecting them to be swinging away. We just didn't expect 90 per cent of their shots to go in,” said Nestor. “When someone plays that well, you've just got to tip your hat and move on.”

Needless to say, Horna and Cuevas surprised themselves with the win.

“I don't know if in our first match we were thinking about winning a (Grand) Slam,” said Horna. “We were just thinking one day at a time."

In addition to knocking off the two top seeds, the giant-killers also eliminated the No. 7 seeds and the No. 9 seeds en route to the championship which now puts them both inside the Top 25 on the doubles rankings. Cuevas is from Uruguay while Horna is from Peru making them the first South American team to win a Grand Slam doubles crown in the Open Era.

“It means a lot,” said Horna. “I mean, everybody dreams about playing the big tournaments and doing good, so winning a Grand Slam, the French Open for us South American players is the most important tournament of the year. I don't think right now in this moment we're going to realize how huge this is.”

The only other time that these two have played together was in November at the Montevideo Challenger. They walked away with the title there as well, leading many to believe that they may be the next up-and-comers on the ATP Tour.