Hanley earns maiden season crown

Australia’s newest Davis Cup representative Paul Hanley has captured his first title of the season with new doubles partner Kevin Ullyet of Zimbabwe at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

The second-seeded pairing claimed their maiden season title with a tight 7-6(4) 7-6(2) finals victory over the Israeli duo of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

“It was a very close match against the defending champions,” Hanley was quoted as saying on the official ATP website. “We knew we were playing well; they beat a lot of good teams during this tournament.”

The win was made sweeter because of the fact that Hanley and Ullyet had lost to the respected Israeli combination earlier in the year in the final of the Adelaide International.

“This is revenge for the Adelaide final where we lost to them,” the Melbourne-born Hanley added.

“It’s really nice to finally win a tournament together with Kevin.”

With the win, the first-year pairing of Hanley and Ullyet have moved to second in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, while both have also enjoyed a positive position change in the world doubles rankings – Ullyet moved from world No.7 to No.5, while Hanley climbs one spot to No.10.

For 28-year-old Hanley, the win comes off the back of an important Davis Cup doubles victory over Switzerland with compatriot Wayne Arthurs, a win that proved the difference between the two competing nations.

Hanley has won titles at the Rotterdam event before, winning in 2004 with 2006 singles champion Radek Stepanek, and in 2003 with Arthurs.

Hanley, one of a number of pure doubles specialists on the ATP Tour, has now captured 14 career doubles titles and has been a finalist on 13 other occasions.

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