Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe beat top seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor to claim the Dubai Open doubles title on Saturday.
Knowles and Nestor won the Dubai title in 2002 and were looking for their 34th crown as a team. The Bahamian-Canadian duo won their first title of 2006 at Delray Beach last month.
Hanley and Ullyett, who had beaten Leander Paes-Martin Damm 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-5 in the semi-finals, came back from a set down in the final too to beat Knowles and Nestor 1-6, 6-2, 10-1 in 65 minutes.
Ullyett belives that the new doubles format helped them overcome the seeded teams in semi-finals and final.
"We got off to a shocking start. We started a bit flat. But with the new doubles format, all of a sudden the momentum can turn, and you just got to use it. That is what happened today. Our confidence after this victory is very high."
It was Hanley and Ullyett's second straight title following their triumph in Rotterdam last week. The Australian-Zimbabwean pair were playing in only their sixth tournament together, having started their partnership at the beginning of this season. Their record now is 16-3.
"It is very exciting. I've never won two titles in a row before, and coming into today's match that was something I wanted to try and achieve. Now we are playing really well, and I think we are getting better and better for every match and tournament," said Hanley.
The win represented Hanley's 15th ATP doubles crown and Ullyett's 26th. With the victory, Hanley-Ullyett consolidated their No. 2 position in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race.
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