Australian tennis duo Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson lost to Finland’s Harri Heliovaara and Great Britain’s Henry Patten in the Wimbledon 2024 men’s doubles final on Sunday.
Purcell and Thompson, seeded 15th, went down 7(9)-6(7), 6(8)-7(10), 6(8)-7(10) against their unseeded opponents in two hours and 52 minutes at the All England Club.
Purcell-Thompson and Heliovaara-Patten maximised their service games in the first set, which went into a tiebreaker.
The Australian tennis players, who dropped only four service points, took a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker. Despite Heliovaara-Patten fighting back to level the scores, the Aussie duo held their nerve to win the first set.
A similar pattern followed in the second set with both pairs holding their serves. Once again, the set headed went to a tiebreaker as neither team managed to get the decisive break. Purcell-Thompson, however, came close twice.
The second set’s tiebreaker saw both pairs exchange leads on multiple occasions. Heliovaara-Patten, however, saved three match points and drew level.
The third set, again, saw both pairs dominate their service games. Purcell and Thompson had three break-point opportunities in the seventh game but their unseeded opponents managed to hold on to their serve.
With both sides unable to break, the match went into a super tiebreaker.
The Australian pair led 8-6 and looked in a commanding position. However, Heliovaara-Patten won five of the last six points and bagged the Wimbledon 2024 men’s doubles title.
The Australian pair were in fine form en route to the final. They upstaged the top seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in straight sets in the semi-finals.
Purcell and Thompson only dropped one set before the final, which was in their quarter-final victory against the 11th-seeded Argentine pair Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez.
Currently 31st in the ATP tennis rankings for doubles, Purcell is only the 13th Australian to play multiple Wimbledon men’s doubles finals in the Open Era. Meanwhile, Thompson featured in his maiden Grand Slam final.
Purcell and Thompson have won four ATP Tour titles together, three of them this year.
The men’s doubles runners-ups were the only Australians to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon 2024.
World No. 9 Alex de Minaur pulled out of the men’s singles quarter-finals against Novak Djokovic with a hip injury. Top seeds Matthew Ebden and Ellen Perez could not make it beyond the second round in the mixed doubles competitions.