Mixed emotion! Italian duo take home BNP Paribas Open mixed-doubles title

The expanded mixed-doubles competition at the BNP Paribas Open was a hit with fans and the championship match helped as it featured two passionate teams battling down to the wire.

In the end, it was the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, shaking off a first-set stumble, to rally and beat the team of Mate Pavic of Croatia and fan favorite Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-7 (3), 6-3, 10-8.

Errani and Vavassori, who were the No. 1 seeds, take home the $100,000 first-place prize in the event that was expanded from eight teams to 12 teams this year in its second iteration.

The match was played in a nearly full Stadium 3 court and several long and wild rallies thrilled the crowd.

When the final point was won, Errani and Vavassori turned to each other and screamed and flexed.

The first set was a tense one as Mattek-Sands and Pavic opened up a 5-2 lead only to see Errani and Vavassori win four games in a row to take a 6-5 advantage. The Italian duo was serving for the set and and had three set points only to see all of them erased. Errani tried to surprise Pavic with an underhand serve, but it didn’t work on one of the points.

Now tied 6-6 and into the tiebreaker it was Mattek-Sands and Pavic controlling it from start to finish, winning it on a double fault by Vavassori to steal the first set they had to slip away 7-6 (3).

But that only fired up the Italian duo. Errani and Vavassori rolled in the second set and then had just enough to win the super-tiebreaker 10-8.

The tournament, in a quest to be more like the Grand Slam tournaments, decided to add a mixed-doubles competition last year. Australian pair Storm Hunter and Matthew Ebden took home the inaugural title.

But this year’s version was much more complete, expanded to 12 teams and with a bigger prize purse.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open mixed-doubles title goes to Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori