Jamie has lost his chance to emulate his brother Andy. The Murrays will not be able to add a third Mutua Madrid Open trophy to the family collection, at least not this year. The veteran team of Michael Venus and Jamie Murray were unable to shake off Sebastian Korda and Jordan Thompson, who prevailed in a super tiebreak (3-6, 6-3, 10-6).
The world No. 6 pair enjoyed a strong start with an early break, holding their own serve and taking the first set 6-3. However, Sebastian Korda is bidding for the first doubles final of his career and he was not ready to give up just yet. Alongside him this week is Jordan Thompson. The Australian is one of the most in-form players on tour, his three titles in 2024 together with his compatriot Max Purcell were no fluke. Jordan is campaigning in Madrid for his fourth doubles title and in the second set he and his partner took a step towards that goal by equalling the scores with another 6-3. They dominated the super tiebreak from the start and cruised their way to 10-6 for the win.
The victory means the North American is now enjoying his best career doubles performance in Madrid. Korda will be playing for his first doubles trophy tomorrow. For his part, Thompson is eyeing up his fourth of the year in doubles and hoping to build on his dream season. In fact, in Los Cabos he did the double, lifting the singles and doubles trophies. With today’s result in Madrid, the Australasian player has broken into the world’s top 40 for the first time.
In the title bout in the Caja Magica they will square off against team Behar-Pavlasek, who reached the final after the withdrawal of Granollers-Zeballos. The Argentine picked up an injury towards the end of their quarter-finals clash and despite winning the match, Zeballos was unable to recover in time and could not take to the Arantxa Sánchez Vicario court today. Tomorrow, Uruguay’s Behar will be vying for his fourth doubles title and his first Masters 1000. If the Czech were to win tomorrow, it would be his first ATP title.
Despite the abrupt end to the tournament for the Spanish-speaking duo, the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open will be an event they will never forget after yesterday’s victory ensured they would climb to number one in the world for the first time in their career. It was an historic achievement. Zeballos became the first Argentine in history to top the list and Marcel has ended Spain’s 25 years wait for a number-one doubles player.
