Arevalo/Pavic 2024 Cincinnati Open Doubles Champions

By Richard Osborn

Marcelo Arevalo blew a kiss to the sky above the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Monday afternoon, the first El Salvadorian to win a title of any kind at the Cincinnati Open, having taken the men’s doubles championship with partner Mate Pavic of Croatia.

The first-year pairing, seeded fourth, defeated the wildcard American duo of Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen, who were competing together for only the second time, 6-2, 6-4.

“It’s special. I’m trying to set the example for the future generations,” said Arevalo. “Not only in my country, but also in Central America, in the Caribbean. That’s the region I grew up in. I’m happy that I’m able to get some good results and motivate the future generations to be here in a couple of years, too.”

McDonald/Michelsen had upset top seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina a day earlier in the semifinals, 7-6(8), 7-6(9).

“It’s never easy in the final,” said Pavic. “Especially those guys. They won a couple of great matches this week. They beat the No. 1 seed who, for me, are in the best shape right now on the tour, so they can beat anybody in doubles. They’re good singles guys, too. It was not easy. It was a bit of a different matchup. We didn’t know what to expect.” 

“It’s been a long journey,” said Arevalo. “We were playing well at the beginning of the year, then we started having some ups and downs. But we kept believing, we kept working with our team, with our coaches. Now we’re feeling confident together. We have good communication. As I always say, it’s super-important on a doubles team to have a good vibe on and off the court. I think that’s something that we did pretty good. It takes a lot of work, a lot of dedication.”

In singles, Michelsen had earlier defeated his partner in the qualifying draw, winning, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the main draw.