BBC SPORT | Tennis | French Open | Three up for winning pair

Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Paul Haarhuis stormed to the French Open doubles crown on Saturday, making history on the way.

They triumphed 7-5 6-2 over second seeds Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Canadian Daniel Nestor at Roland Garros.

Their win makes the Russian and Dutchman the only players, along with Swede Anders Jarryd, to have won three doubles titles in Paris since tennis turned professional in 1968.

"Paul told me, 'I know how to beat those guys. They're a good team but we are better'," Kafelnikov said.

"We stayed positive throughout the match. That was the key - confidence and teamwork."

Memorable

The victory - in their first grand slam together - was a third Roland Garros men's doubles title for Haarhuis and Kafelnikov, both having previously won with different partners.

Kafelnikov, the 1996 singles winner, won in 1996 and 1997 with Daniel Vacek while Haarhuis, who has 53 doubles titles to his name, won in 1995 and 1998 with Jacco Eltingh.

Paul Haarhuis and Yevgeny Kafelnikov are now triple winners in the doubles.
Unseeded: But Haarhuis and Kafelnikov had winning records
This is Haarhuis's sixth grand slam doubles title and Kafelnikov's fourth.

The win completes a memorable tournament for the partnership.

On the way to the final, they upset third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi in the semis, and sixth seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge in the quarter-finals.

They also ousted 15th seeds Julien Boutter and Sjeng Schalken in the first round.

Overall, this is the Haarhuis-Kafelnikov team's fifth event together, their second this year.

They played together for the first time in three years at the Monte Carlo Masters in April. Unseeded, they reached the final, losing to Bjorkman and Woodbridge.


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