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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 11:24 a.m., Saturday, June 7, 2008

Tennis: Cuevas, Horna win men's doubles at French Open

By TRUNG LATIEULE
Associated Press

PARIS — Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Luis Horna of Peru won the French Open men's doubles title today, making them the first all-South American duo to become Grand Slam champions in the 40-year Open era.

The unseeded Cuevas and Horna beat No. 2-seeded Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

Neither Cuevas or Horna had won a major title. They played only one previous tournament together, and that was on the challenger circuit.

"Winning a Grand Slam in doubles is a wonderful experience," Horna said. "The French Open for us South American players is the most important tournament of the year."

"We were not expecting to go that far," Cuevas said.

They upset the top-seeded team, American twins Bob and Mike Bryan, in the quarterfinals.

In the final, they raced to a 4-0 lead and held every service game.

"Today was one of these days you feel on the court like everything is going slow and you have time to think and make the right decisions to get the points," Horna said.

"I don't think right now in this moment we're going to realize how huge this is. Maybe in a couple of weeks or couple of months or couple of years. Someday we will figure it out."

Ecuador's Andres Gomez, who won the singles title at the French Open in 1990, presented the trophy to Horna and Cuevas.

"Gomez has been like an idol for us Peruvians," Horna said. "To have a trophy from him is, I think, one of the important moments in my professional career."