Britain’s Joe Salisbury and playing partner Rajeev Ram became the first men’s doubles pair since 1914 to seal a hat-trick of US Open titles.
The duo, winners in New York 2021 and 2022, had found themselves on the back foot in Arthur Ashe Stadium in the opening set against Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna.
But after both Salisbury, who had three double faults in that opener, and Ram struggled with their service, they settled on the resumption of the tennis.
They appeared to be aided by a break in play early in the second when officials decided to close the shutters high up in the ground for what was another roasting day in the Big Apple.
It enabled them to settle and finally gather some momentum to break and deservedly send the match into a deciding set.
Again, the Anglo-American pair got a break in the third and Ram served it out for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
There was a bizarre moment in that third set when Bopanna conceded a point after an Ebden forehand had brushed his elbow, which the umpire had failed to spot. It had no bearing on the game with Ebden serving out that particular game.
The win gave Salisbury a sixth grand slam title across the men’s and mixed doubles leaving him just one major title away from Jamie Murray, who had lost earlier in the tournament in New York.
After lifting the title, Londoner Salisbury said: “This partnership is really special. It’s been five years and we’ve got pretty close. We just know we’re going to give it our all, compete and fight hard. We didn’t play our best in the first set and we’re really proud of the effort we put in today.”
