James Watt and Matt Hulme had already won two doubles titles together before reaching the final in Burnie on Saturday, and each time they had beaten a higher-ranked team. Facing the fourth-seeded Taiwanese pair of Hsu Yu-hsiou and Huang Tsung-hao was therefore not likely to cause any real trepidation before they took the court, especially since their opponents had come so close to losing to Ajeet Rai and Joshua Charlton the previous day.
Watt served first, and dropped himself back to deuce when he overhit a forehand volley, but a great serve on the deciding point saw Hsu’s cross-court backhand return fly wide. Hsu had to save a break point to get to deuce when he served next, but a great return from Hulme forced him into a backhand error to give away the game. Hulme held comfortably next up, and the only point Huang lost in his first game was to a double fault. He wrapped up the hold by letting the final incoming shot bounce before hitting a huge smash to end the first of several fantastic rallies in the match.
Watt then held to love in a game which included the first ace of the match, with Hsu hitting a beautiful backhand winner through the middle of the court on the way to holding in turn. Hulme started his second game with a beautiful cross-court forehand drop volley before winning another fantastic rally with an overhead volley. He went on to hold comfortably, and that left Huang serving to stay in the set.
He had a game point at 40-30 after forcing Hulme into a return error, but Watt hit a beautiful backhand return down the line to take them to deuce before Huang tamely gave away the set with a double fault on the deciding point. They had been on court for 27 minutes.
Watt held serve easily to start the second set before hitting the shot of the match, a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines which landed just inside the baseline. Hsu still held, and then it was his turn to hit a gorgeous return when Hulme served next. Games continued to go with serve, Watt starting his second game with a beautiful backhand volley. He followed that by acing Hsu out wide and then forced two backhand return errors to complete a hold to love. Hsu finished the next game with his team’s only ace before we saw the best game of the match when Hulme served for the second time in the set.
There wasn’t a single unforced error in the seven points played, Huang winning the third point with a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines before Hsu took them to deuce when he won another fantastic rally with a beautiful inside-out forehand volley. The best rally in the match came on the deciding point, last for 14 shots before Huang was forced to hit a cross-court backhand lob wide.
Huang hit a lovely forehand winner down the tramlines on the way to holding serve again, with Hulme’s great angled forehand drop volley helping Watt to hold serve once again. That left Hsu serving to stay in the match, but unforced errors from Huang and Hsu were followed by a stunning forehand return down the tramlines from Hulme. That gave the unseeded pair four Championship points, and Hsu gifted them the title when he dumped a forehand into the net. The final score was 6-2, 6-4, and the match had taken 57 minutes.