Patten and Heliovaara battle through at US Open
Written by I Dig SportsWimbledon champions Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara are safely through to the second round of the men's doubles at the US Open.
Britain's Patten and Finn Heliovaara beat French pair Sadio Doumbia and Manuel Guinard 6-4 7-5 in New York.
The sixth seeds saved four break points and converted their first to go up 5-4 before saving another break point as they served out the first set.
The second set followed a similar pattern as Doumbia and Guinard failed to make the most of two break points early on.
That allowed Patten and Heliovaara to claim the crucial break and clinch victory.
Three-time Grand Slam doubles champion Neal Skupski and partner Michael Venus of New Zealand are also through to the second round.
Liverpudlian Skupski and Venus, the eighth seeds, were 6-3 6-3 winners against Hugo Gaston and Gregoire Jacq of France.
Elsewhere in the men's doubles, Briton Julian Cash and American partner Robert Galloway beat home hopes Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.
In the women's doubles, Katie Boulter showed her powers of recovery again as she and Anna Kalinskaya beat Xinyu Wang and Saisai Zheng of China.
Brit Boulter came from a set down to win her first-round singles match and did so again alongside Kalinskaya, winning 2-6 7-5 6-2 - including coming back from a 5-2 third-set deficit.
Tara Moore and Swiss partner Viktorija Golubic made it through after a straightforward 6-2 6-2 win over Americans Anna Sinclair Rogers and Alana Smith.
But Samantha Murray Sharan and Camilla Rosatello of Italy fell to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 loss to teenagers Robin Montgomery and Clervie Ngounoue of the United States.