Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic proved why they are the top seeds on No.1 Court, booking their men’s doubles final spot with a compelling victory over Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Mektic and Pavic stood firm in the crucial moments 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6 (5), saving 10 of 11 break points, to edge the No.6 seeds.

They advance to their maiden Wimbledon final as a duo to take on the Spanish and Argentine combination of Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

It was a pretty smooth opening from both pairings. Salisbury impressing his home crowd, leaping high to his right to hook a forehand volley from behind, demonstrating a strong start from the No.6 seeds.

At 4-3 Salisbury whipped a low forehand down the line as the catalyst for the opening break opportunity but world No.1 Pavic smothered the net in response.

A tie-break was required and it was a cagey affair. The top seeds had a set point dismissed at 6-5, then Pavic’s superb reactions, stepping in closer with each volley in a laser-beam net duel earned the telling point. Mektic struck a timely ace and they strolled back to the chair in the ascendancy.

The top seeds grasped the momentum at 3-2, clipping a brace of controlled lobs for a pivotal break to open up a two-set lead.

The ardent support for local charge Salisbury gave the No.6 seeds an almighty boost in the third set.

World No.1 Pavic, 2018 Australian Open and 2020 US Open champion with different partners, kept being forced into trouble on serve and kept conjuring up the shots to escape.

Salisbury deflected a remarkable reaction lob onto the baseline which was rewarded with a mighty roar from the stands. The pressure on the Mektic and Pavic serves finally told and a real battle ignited.

Pavic threw in an erratic game to be broken to love at 1-1 in the fourth set, only for the world No.1 to redeem himself with a selection of punchy volleys driven into open space.

Salisbury cannonballed a forehand down the line return winner to threaten another break. Mektic’s deft drop volley erased the danger.

Another piece of magic from the Brit, cutting an inside out forehand winner across the reach of Mektic, but the top seeds stubbornly maintained scoreboard parity.

The tense tick-tack-whack net exchanges culminated in another absorbing tie-break. Crucially at 5-4, Mektic lasered a return at the feet of Salisbury approaching the net.

The error was drawn, and the top seeds lashed away one final volley to collapse to the court in elation.

155-154 points in total, it was that close.

No.4 seeds Granollers and Zeballos booked their final ticket with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(3) win over Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez.

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