Croatia’s Nikola Mektić wins Indian Wells doubles title

17 March 2019 – Croatia’s Nikola Mektić has won the doubles title at the Indian Wells 1000 Masters tournament in California.  

Mektić and his Argentine partner Horacio Zeballos beat sixth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo in the final of the BNP Paribas Open 4-6, 6-4, 10-3 to claim the title. 

It was Mektić’s 6th ATP title and the second with Zeballos. 

“Oh my God, we won Indian Wells! It is a little bit unreal. We’re still looking at each other and just repeating, ‘Did we just win’?” Mektic said during the trophy ceremony.

Mektic and Zeballos beat four of the top six seeds on their way to the title, including Australian Open champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, and the 2018 year-end No. 1 ATP Doubles Team, Oliver Marach/Mate Pavic, in the semi-finals.

“We are a great team. We can beat anyone,” Mektic said. “Especially on this tournament where [the difference in] every match is a few balls, a few points will decide who’s going to win. Of course you’re not expecting to win, but we were going into every match confident that we can win, so we just went step by step and it happened.”

“They had the toughest draw possible,” Melo said. “They beat all the best teams in the world.”