MELBOURNE, January 27, 2018

Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic captured their first Grand Slam title as a team on their fourth appearance together at a major. The Austrian-Croatian combination defeated the Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia 6-4, 6-4 in Saturday’s doubles final of the 2018 Australian Open.

Marach and Pavic sealed victory in one hour and 33 minutes.

“I don’t know what to say,” Pavic said in disbelief. “I’m really happy with everything, with these two weeks, with the beginning of the year. We still haven’t lost a match.”

Pavic becomes just the second Croatian player to win a men’s doubles Grand Slam title after Ivan Dodig, who won the title at 2015 Roland Garros alongside Marcelo Melo.

“What can I say? I’m a little bit speechless,” Marach added. “Since last year we’ve grown together unbelievably. We’ve had really unbelievable runs and I hope we can continue this year. I enjoyed every minute being with you on the court and I hope we can continue like that.” 

Marach becomes the third Austrian player to win a men’s doubles Grand Slam title after Julian Knowle won the 2007 US Open with Simon Aspelin and Jurgen Melzer won 2010 Wimbledon and the 2011 US Open with Philipp Petzschner.