Doubles Take: Shanghai, Linz & more

The Asia swing comes to a close, while the WTA regular season begins to wind down. It’s Doubles Take, your weekly look at team play on both tours.

FINE IN CHINA

There’s no doubt that Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot are feeling confident right now.

The duo just won its second title in a row, and fourth of the year, with a straight-sets victory over Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in the Shanghai final.

They’re also feeling confident off the court, too, as evidenced by Kubot’s victory speech.

A TEAM FOR ALL SURFACES

At the Tianjin Open in China, Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke capped off their week with a straight-sets win over Jessica Moore and Monique Adamczak in the final.

It’s the second title of the year for the pair, and first on hard courts. Their first title came at the Czech Open on clay and was followed shortly after by a runner-up finish at Wimbledon on grass.

THE GOOD RUN CONTINUES

At the US Open this year, veterans Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang made a surprise run to the semifinals. They went a couple of steps further at the Hong Kong Tennis Open with their first title together.

In the final, they defeated Shuko Aoyama and Lidziya Marozava in straight sets. In fact, the unseeded pair didn’t drop a set all week.

WINNING IN LINZ

Johanna Larsson won the doubles title at the indoor event in Linz, Austria, with Kiki Bertens the past two years. The Swede has been playing more with Kirsten Flipkens this year and in their third final of the year together, they finally broke through with a title.

Larsson and Flipkens—who won their first tournament together in two years—beat top seeds Racquel Atawo and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the final. Aside from three-peating at the event, Larsson must have felt an even stronger sense of déjà vu: Back in 2016, Larsson and Bertens beat Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke.

A LOOK AHEAD

The WTA regular season comes to a close this week with two events. At the Luxembourg Open, Lyudmyla Kichenok and Katarina Srebotnik  are the top seeds, followed by Kirsten Flipkens and Johanna Larsson, who will be looking for their second title in a row.

At the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Irina-Camelia Buzarnescu top the draw, followed by Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Raquel Atawo. Demi Schuurs, who’s won multiple titles with different partners during the year, will be trying to come out on a top with a fourth one as she teams up with Oksana Kalashnikova.

The men are also in Moscow, with Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos—fresh off their upset over Mike Bryan and Jack Sock in Shanghai—leading the way. The second seeds are Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram. Defending champs Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald are the No. 3 seeds. Last year’s title was the 50th of Mirnyi’s career.

In Antwerp, top seeds Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff will be going for their second title together. Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, the second seeds, are among the teams that will be standing in their way. At the other ATP stop, the Stockholm Open, veterans Marc Lopez and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi will face a field that includes second seeds Jack Sock and Jackson Winthrow, who won in Delray Beach earlier this year.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias