Heliovaara and Patten into last four of Roland Garros Doubles for first time

[p]The second seeds had not dropped a set or even been taken to an 11th game in their first three matches, but the Quarter-finals had been their ceiling at Roland Garros - together a year ago and in 2022 for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/heliovaara-harri/OYcuApkE/"]Heliovaara[/a].[/p][p]A match against an unseeded pair in the last eight appeared favourable, but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/balaji-n-sriram/h69nDwTE/"]Balaji[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/demoliner-marcelo/nJ2qlJH6/"]Demoliner[/a] came into this on the back of knocking out sixth seeds [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/krawietz-kevin/EwLaAdNP/"]Kevin Krawietz[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/puetz-tim/CUhEqGYo/"]Tim Puetz[/a] in straight sets.[/p][p]The first seven games going with serve proved the Indian-American duo would be no pushovers, but in game eight, the breakthrough came when [b]Demoliner's serve was routinely punished by backhand winners from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/patten-henry/tzbx2iwG/"]Patten[/a], taking the favourites 5-3 clear, before the Finn and Brit held to win the opening set, 6-3.[/b][/p][embed guid="f9bcbb9a-e1a4-4f03-8053-62de25b3e948" url="https://x.com/the_LTA/status/2062138723085492556" social-type="twitter" /][p]In the second set, the favourites again made a break of Demoliner's serve in the third game, battling back from 30-0 down to take it on their second break point. The Brazilian then made it an unwanted three breaks in a row from his serve in game seven, [b]as Heliovaara and Patten continually forced them into errors to go 5-2 clear.[/b][/p][p]The former Wimbledon and Australian Open champions had barely dropped a point when serving, making a loss of serve with the finish line in sight all the more surprising. Balaji and Demoliner survived two match points and battled back, before Heliovaara handed them a lifeline with a double fault.[/p][p]Balaji held serve in the next game to make it 5-4, but this time there would be no let up, [b]as Patten rounded off a simple game win with an ace to win the match [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/balaji-n-s-h69nDwTE/demoliner-m-nJ2qlJH6/?mid=4G652jn4"]6-3, 6-4[/a] and reach the Semi-finals.[/b][/p][p]The 36-year-old from Helsinki and 30-year-old from Colchester will enter unchartered territory at Roland Garros against either [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/arends-sander/tSxO13Qj/"]Sander Arends[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pel-david/bqQtB0Na/"]David Pel[/a] or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/halys-quentin/EDve8Ljh/"]Quentin Halys[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/herbert-pierre-hugues/vD0zNRBM/"]Pierre-Hugues Herbert[/a].[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/atp-doubles/french-open/"]Follow the latter stages of the 2026 French Open on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]