Marcelo Arévalo makes history in Central American tennis

Salvadoran Marcelo Arévalo became the first Central American tennis player to win a Grand Slam final on Saturday, winning Roland Garros in the men’s doubles category, after saving three match points in the second set.

Arévalo and his partner, the Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer, beat the Croatian Ivan Dodig and the American Austin Krajicek in the final 6-7(4), 7-6(5) and 6-3 in three hours and one minute.

The 31-year-old Sonsonate-born player effusively celebrated the victory by hugging his wife, son and other relatives, as well as the Salvadoran fans present on the Philippe Chatrier track, with whom he shouted “El Salvador, El Salvador.”

Dressed in black and with a white cap, the Central American player and his Dutch partner came back from a match that seemed to have been lost.

After losing the first set in the tiebreaker, they were about to say goodbye to the final in the second, when they saved up to three match points. Having won the second set in the tie break, Arévalo and Rojer accelerated and clearly won the third.

The Salvadoran has broken taboos in his region. She had already reached the final of last year’s US Open in mixed doubles, alongside Italy’s Giuliana Olmos, although they lost it.

This time, his rapport with the 40-year-old Dutchman Rojer paid off, after they started working together earlier this year, something made easier because they both reside in Florida (USA) along with several members of their team. .