From Foe To Friend: Nys/Zielinski Take Maiden Title In Metz

On Sunday, Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski took to court to play in the championship match at the Moselle Open for the second consecutive year.

Unlike in 2021, however, this time the pair was on the same side of the net in Metz, and it proved effective, with the tandem downing second seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 7-6(5), 6-4 to claim its maiden ATP Tour title at the indoor hard-court event.

“Really, really happy to win the first title together as a team,” said Nys after the 84-minute championship match win. “Funny story, last year I played the final against Jan and Hubert [Hurkacz], and I lost to them. This year we are back together, one year later, and we won together, so it’s a very nice story.

“First title. We made a final in Winston-Salem, and then the quarter-finals in the US Open. We were playing well. It was a very, very good week. All the matches were a very high level.”

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“Very happy with the win today,” added Zielinski. “We played very good from the beginning of the tournament… So hopefully we can keep it going. It’s our second final together, first win, so 50/50 with the finals, but hopefully there are many more to come. We are very happy with how we played and hopefully we can keep the momentum for Sofia next week.”

The unseeded Nys and Zielinski had saved a match point in the Match Tie-break of their semi-final victory against home favourites Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys, but Sunday’s final was a much more straightforward affair. The duo produced a solid opening-set tie-break to move ahead, before notching the sole break of the second set in the ninth game to secure victory at the ATP 250 tournament.

Nys and Zielinski won 84 per cent (36/43) of points behind first serves en route to securing the win. It was Nys’ fourth tour-level doubles crown and a second for Zielinski, following his triumph alongside Hurkacz a year ago.

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