Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Joe Rindl
- Role, BBC Sport journalist at Wimbledon
Henry Patten has reached his first Wimbledon men’s doubles final by knocking out fellow Briton and 2023 champion Neal Skupski.
Patten, alongside Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara, beat ninth seeds Skupski and Michael Venus of New Zealand 6-4 7-6 (7-1) on Court One.
They will face Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson in Saturday’s final after the Australian duo defeated Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos of Spain and Argentina respectively in straight sets.
“It feels pretty good. I am not sure it has quite set in. I don’t think it had hit us – neither of us realised what had happened,” said Patten.
“I’m trying to not think about Grand Slam champions. But it’s every Brit’s dream, every tennis player’s dream.”
The unseeded pair broke Venus’ serve at the start of the match and held their break advantage right through a tense opening set.
The second set stayed on serve with underdogs Patten and Heliovaara dominating the tie-break.
Incredibly, Patten, 28, had not gone beyond the third round of a Grand Slam before this fortnight and has only won two tournaments on tour, both with Heliovaara who he started partnering this year.
They are on a dream run having also squeezed past French Open winners Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic in a match-deciding tie-break in the quarter-finals.
Later on Thursday, alongside American Desirae Krawczyk, he was beaten 7-5 6-4 by men’s partner Venus and New Zealander Erin Routliffe in the mixed doubles.
Elsewhere, Briton Jamie Murray and American partner Taylor Townsend suffered a 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (7-9) 5-10 defeat by Poland’s Jan Zielinski and Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in their quarter-final.
And Britain’s Marcus Willis, who famously faced Roger Federer in the second round at Wimbledon in 2016, exited at the same stage alongside compatriot Alicia Barnett in a 3-6 5-7 defeat by Mexican pair Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos.