Salisbury, Krawczyk win French Open mixed doubles crown

Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Desirae Krawczyk of the US return the ball to Russia’s Elena Vesnina and Russia’s Aslan Karatsev during their mixed doubles final tennis match on Day 12 of The Roland Garros 2021 French Open tennis tournament in Paris - AFP 

PARIS (AFP): Joe Salisbury became the first Briton to win the French Open mixed doubles in 39 years on Thursday as he and American partner Desirae Krawczyk beat Aslan Karatsev and Elena Vesnina 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 in the final.

It is a second Grand Slam title for Salisbury, 29, who won the 2020 Australian Open men’s doubles with Rajeev Ram. The 27-year-old Krawczyk finished runner-up in last year’s women’s doubles at Roland Garros with Alexa Guarachi.

“They killed us in the first set, and I think that it was a combination of sort of us getting better, then they dropped their level a bit,” said Salisbury.

“But I think all week we have just gone into it kind of relaxed, enjoying ourselves and seeing what happens. We have come out with a Grand Slam title. “