Heliovaara & Patten win third title of 2026 in Dubai: 'It's a dream start to the year'
Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten reinforced their dominance in the Middle East on Saturday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where they captured the title.
The third seeds defeated Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic 7-5, 7-5 in the ATP 500 final, stretching their winning streak to seven matches following last week’s triumph in Doha. Last year, Heliovaara and Patten squandered four match points in the Dubai final to Yuki Bhambri and Alexei Popyrin, but made up for it with a clinical display in their 2026 redemption bid.
Having also lifted the trophy in Adelaide in January, Heliovaara and Patten now own three titles in 2026 and have climbed to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings. Arevalo and Pavic, who were contesting their first final of the season, jumped three places to No. 6.
“As always in doubles, the margins are so fine,” Patten said. “There’s no room to get complacent. You go on highs and then very quickly, you [can] find yourself in a low. We’ll try to ride this one and extend it for as long as possible.”
Heliovaara and Patten closed the 2025 campaign in style with maiden titles at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris and the prestigious Nitto ATP Finals. Carrying that momentum into 2026, they have now won 21 of their past 23 matches, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.
“It’s a dream start to the year,” Heliovaara said. “It’s very nice to play with this guy, Henry. We’re great friends off court and everything seems to work well on the court, so I want to thank him and obviously our opponents, Marcelo and Mate. They were World No. 1s last year and they can play some really good tennis.”
They became the second team to secure three tour-level trophies this year, joining Theo Arribage and Albano Olivetti, champions in Auckland, Montpellier and Dallas.
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