BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU alum Neal Skupski and his partner Christian Harrison captured the Australian Open men’s doubles title. They did so, defeating wild card duo Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans on their home soil, posting a 7-6(4), 6-4 straight sets victory.
In the match, Skupski and Harrison landed at 5-2 after earning a break in the previous game, putting themselves just one game away from taking the first set. However, the Aussies rallied to send it into a set tiebreak, where Skupski and Harrison would eventually clinch it 7-6(4). The following set opened with an early break. The duo was able to maintain their lead this time, sealing the match with an ace to win 6-4.
On handling the pressure facing the pro-Australian crowd, Skupski said, “We knuckled down and had to bring our best level. This will definitely improve us, give us experience, and know what to do next time. Especially in front of a crowd like that, like today, was incredible.”
In their first Grand Slam event as a team, Skupski and Harrison became the second American-British team in history to win a Grand Slam men’s doubles title. Furthermore, Skupski is now the fourth British player in the Open Era to win the Australian Open men’s doubles title, all while dropping only one set the entire competition.
Skupski has advanced to at least the quarterfinals in five major appearances since his last Grand Slam title in the 2023 Wimbledon Championships. Yesterday, his third finals appearance in the last four Grand Slams ended with a championship.
With this win, Skupski will reclaim his spot at ATP world No. 1 for men’s doubles, his first time in this position since 2022. Along with the title and rankings update, the team will split a $900,000 prize to cap off their impressive run at this year’s edition of the Australian Open.
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