Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, the third seeds, won the Mutua Madrid Open after seeing off defending champions Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea in a thrilling final which the Romanian-Dutch team won 6-4, 7-6 (5) in one hour and 11 minutes.

The winning team had an arduous road to victory, above all in the semi-finals when they defeated in-form duo Herbert and Mahut. The French players have stormed to three Masters 1000 on the trot with victory at Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo.

The result means that Rojer and Tecau now have a convincing 5-0 head-to-head with the Romanian and Indian player, who saved a match point in their semi-final.

The fans in the Manolo Santana Stadium witnessed a very tight clash. In the first set Rojer and Tecau won 25 points to Bopanna and Mergea’s 24, and one break was enough for the Dutch and Romanian to take the lead, with a highly impressive stat; they won 100% of the points on their first serve.

In the second set the two teams held their serve throughout and it was decided in a tiebreak, in which Rojer and Tecau were more effective in the critical points.

It is the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title for world number five Tecau (who won in Cincinnati with Lindstedt in 2012). The same applies to Rojer (who won in Miami with Qureshi in 2013). In their hands, the first Ecovidrio trophy, made with all the recycled glass over the last year in Madrid.