The Brazilian duo of Andre Sa and Marcelo Melo took the XL Bermuda Open doubles title with consummate ease yesterday in defeating Benedikt Dorsch and Sergiy Stakhovsky in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.

In stark contrast to the closely-fought singles final which preceded it, the match-up between the two best doubles pairings in the tournament took only just over an hour — as Sa and Melo’s far superior volleying and ability to close out the crucial points turned the game into a one-sided affair.

Under a tournament doubles format where any game tied at deuce is decided by one, sudden-death point, Dorsch and Stakhovsky — the pair that ousted Bermuda number one Andy Bray and his partner Dekel Valtzer from the tournament in the first round last Wednesday night — were left scratching their heads in bemusement as all seven of the games which went to deuce were lost.

Sa — a long-time friend of singles champion Zabaleta, who remained courtside throughout to cheer on his mate — said afterwards he hoped to continue playing with his countryman at future tournaments.

“I think we work very well together and we had a very good week” he said.

“I hope looking ahead we can play with each other more often because I feel we can win a few more titles. Today, we volleyed very well and did not give them much of a chance to get into the match. They played well at times, but when it got to the important points we always managed to pull through.

“We’ll enjoy this victory and it was great to have Mariano (Zabaleta) here watching. It made it more special.”