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Finland's Heliovaara and partner Patten through to second round at Roland-Garros

Patten (left) and Heliovaara made light work of their First Round match
Patten (left) and Heliovaara made light work of their First Round matchRené Nijhuis / Alamy / Profimedia
Finnish involvement at Roland-Garros began with Helsinki's Harri Heliovaara and his British partner Henry Patten beating the Czech pairing of Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) in the First Round of the 2025 French Open men's doubles - the perfect start as the 2024 Wimbledon and 2025 Australian Open champions look to add the clay Grand Slam to their list of honours.

The number two seeds were strong favourites against their opponents ranked 68th and 70th in the world, respectively, and after taking the opening game, Heliovaara and Patten broke serve in the second game, finally securing a 2-0 lead in the set with their third break point attempt.

The next seven games all went with serve, giving Heliovaara and Patten a 6-3 win in a first set in which they only conceded three points from serve.

Nouza and Rikl began the second set well, taking the first game on serve without dropping a point, but the world numbers three and four hit back in the third game, breaking serve following two break points.

With their backs to the wall, the outsiders bravely saved three break points in their next service game to make it 3-2 in the second set, before forcing deuce on Patten's serve for the first time.

However, the Finnish-British duo held their nerve to hold serve and take a 4-2 lead. 

The following four games were all won by the serving pair, giving Heliovaara and Patten a straight sets win (6-3, 6-4) in one hour and 11 minutes.

In the Second Round, they will face Canada's Gabriel Diallo and Great Britain's Jacob Fearnley.

Heliovaara will be back in action later today as he begins his mixed doubles campaign alongside Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan, taking on Belgium's Sander Gille and Australia's Storm Hunter.

Follow the 2025 French Open on Flashscore.