The Latest: Babos and Mladenovic win French doubles title
PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the French Open (all times local):
8:35 p.m.
Rafael Nadal says he will again not play any warmup tournaments before Wimbledon.
Nadal hasn’t entered a grass-court tournament ahead of Wimbledon in any season since 2015. That year, he appeared in two grass events between Roland Garros and the All England Club — and then lost in the second round at Wimbledon.
Fresh off his 12th French Open title, Nadal says, “Why do I need to change that? … What gives me (a) better chance is to be healthy than playing a lot of matches.”
Nadal’s two Wimbledon titles came in 2008 and 2010. He is also a three-time runner-up at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament, but he hasn’t reached the final since 2011.
Wimbledon starts July 1.
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6:15 p.m.
Rafael Nadal has won a 12th French Open title.
Nadal beat Dominic Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in a rematch of last year’s final.
It’s Nadal’s 18th Grand Slam title, moving him within two of Roger Federer’s record for men.
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5:25 p.m.
Rafael Nadal is one set away from a 12th French Open title.
Nadal leads the final 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.
Nadal won 16 of 17 points to open the third set and take a 4-0 lead.
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4:55 p.m.
Dominic Thiem has evened the French Open final against Rafael Nadal at one set apiece.
Thiem won the second set 7-5 after Nadal won the first 6-3.
Thiem got the only break of the second set in the final game when Nadal missed a series of shots under pressure from the Austrian player’s heavy groundstrokes.
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4:05 p.m.
Rafael Nadal has won the first set of the men’s final against Dominic Thiem by a score of 6-3.
After trading breaks midway through the set, Nadal got the key break for a 5-3 lead then served it out.
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3:12 p.m.
The men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem has started at Roland Garros.
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1:25 p.m.
Lights will be installed on the four top show courts for next year’s French Open and all courts the year after, putting an end to matches being suspended due to darkness.
Tournament organizers announced that Court Philippe Chatrier, Court Suzanne Lenglen, Court Simonne Mathieu and Court No. 4 will have artificial lighting for 2020.
Also, as previously announced, organizers say that a retractable roof will be functioning over the 15,000-seat Chatrier stadium for next year’s tournament.
Night sessions, however, won’t be scheduled until 2021. And French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli says that the tournament will not follow in the tradition of the U.S. Open and Australian Open where matches sometimes end in the early morning hours.
Giudicelli says that starting in 2021 three matches will be scheduled per day session on Chatrier and only one at night. He adds, “We won’t play between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.”
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12:50 p.m.
The second-seeded team of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic has won the women’s doubles title at the French Open for their second Grand Slam title as a pairing.
Babos, who is from Hungary, and Mladenovic, who is from France, beat the Chinese team of Zheng Saisai and Duan Ying-Ying 6-2, 6-3.
Babos and Mladenovic also won the Australian Open together last year, and Mladenovic won the French Open in 2016 with Caroline Garcia.
Zheng and Duan were playing their first tournament together.
Mladenovic will replace Katerina Siniakova at No. 1 in the doubles rankings on Monday.
Dominic Thiem, Mladenovic’s boyfriend, was playing the men’s singles final later against Rafael Nadal.
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8 a.m.
Rafael Nadal aims for a 12th French Open title against Dominic Thiem in a rematch of last year’s final.
Nadal should be more rested for Sunday’s match, because Thiem needed two days to complete his five-set, four-hour semifinal victory over Novak Djokovic.
Nadal beat Thiem in straight sets in last year’s final. But Thiem showed against Djokovic that he has the power and poise to deal with the top players. Also, Thiem beat Nadal in straight sets in the Barcelona Open semifinals on clay in April.
Nadal is 92-2 for his career at Roland Garros. He can become the first man or woman to win the same major tournament 12 times.
An 18th Grand Slam title overall would also move Nadal within two of Roger Federer’s record among men.
Thiem seeks his first major trophy.
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More AP tennis coverage: https://www.apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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