It means that Venus and Croatian Nikola Mektic take the title, for their first as a new combination. It will be recorded as Venus’ second Auckland trophy, after he won the tournament here with Mate Pavic in 2016.

Gael Monfils beat Zizou Bergs 6-3 6-4 in the Auckland Classic final on Saturday to become the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title in a boost before his Australian Open campaign.

Ivo Karlovic holds the ATP Tour record, having won through to final in Pune, India in 2019 at the age of 39 years, 311 days. Monfils edges Stan Wawrinka who was aged 38 years and 124 days when he reached the final at Umag, Croatia in 2023.