Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Fabrice Santoro saved six consecutive match points to defeat the third-seeded Austrian team of Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-1, 11-9 (Match TB) in the Metz doubles final. The Frenchmen thrilled Metz fans after rallying from 1-8 and then 3-9 in the Match Tie-break, winning the last eight points of the match
Playing together for the first time, Gasquet and Santoro became the fourth consecutive all-French team to win the Metz title. Santoro won the title last year with Michael Llodra. Santoro won his 21st career doubles title and his third in 2006 (Sydney, Halle). Gasquet won his first ever doubles title.
From the quarterfinals on, Gasquet and Santoro won three consecutive matches in Match Tie-breaks, including a win over top seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the semifinals.
Gasquet said: "I will always remember this victory. At the beginning of the week I felt the pressure of playing next to such a great doubles player as Fabrice who has had a lot of success with other French players."
Santoro said: "It was a lot of fun to play with Richard this week and we played our best match today against the best team of the week. I must thank Richard for hanging in there the day of his singles loss because he was really tired with cramps and we played really late in the day."
Source: ATP Doubles