Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool won the Wimbledon men’s doubles final Saturday, making them the first all-British team to win the event since 1936.
Cash, 28, and Glasspool, 31, won their maiden Grand Slam title as they dispatched Rinky Hijikata of Australia and David Pel of the Netherlands in straight sets, 6-2 7-6.
The British pair had never reached a final of a Grand Slam ahead of their Wimbledon run, where they were the No. 5 seeds.
Cash and Glasspool became the first British men’s doubles team to take the title at the All England Club since Pat Hughes and Raymond Tuckey beat Charles Hare and Frank Wilde in five sets 89 years ago. They had already made history by becoming the first all-British men’s pair to reach the final of the tournament in 65 years.
“I mean it’s something we spoke about going into the year,” Cash said. “We had two goals. One was to make it to Turin, another was to win a Slam. A lot of people probably wouldn’t have believed us. Our team backed us all the way. To do it here, I mean it couldn’t mean more. To do it on the most special court in the world? Incredible.”
The Brits seized upon a sloppy service game from Pel to clinch an immediate break to love in the opening exchanges, and when the 34-year-old Dutchman’s serve rolled around again, Cash and Glasspool exerted real pressure, gaining a double-break advantage for 4-1 after missing their first two break-point opportunities.
Pel began the second set on serve and despite giving away a break-point opening with a double fault, rallied to overturn the scare and hold for his first time in the match, smashing twice before Hijikata showed great touch with a low volley to avoid falling behind early once again.
Then Pel’s serve was broken for a third time, with the Brits carving out two break points to take advantage of a missed overhead smash from Hijikata.
Victory seemed on the horizon, but Cash and Glasspool showed their first sign of nerves and were broken for the first time for 4-4. The second set ultimately went all the way to a tiebreak, and after trading two mini-breaks apiece, the British pair gained a decisive two-point advantage, aided by a Pel double-fault.
Then they served out the first of their three championship points.
The Wimbledon victory continues some strong recent form for Cash and Glasspool. Their title at the All England Club is a third on British soil this season, having clinched doubles crowns at Queen’s and Eastbourne during a run of 14 straight victories. They also finished runners-up at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, where they were defeated by Australian pair Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson.
Cash and Glasspool made relatively easy work of their run to the Wimbledon final. They overcame the second-seeded duo of Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten in the quarterfinals, during which they dropped their only set of the tournament, before beating the fourth seeds, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, in the semifinals.
(Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)