Doubles Take: Stuttgart, Barcelona and more

Doubles Take is here with the latest results on the ATP and WTA tours.

RETURN OF THE ‘KILLER B’

Back in 2017, during the early days of Double Take, Ashleigh Barty won her first career singles title at the Malaysian Open and captured the doubles, too. Irina-Camelia Begu and Kiki Bertens, also accomplished a sweep later that year and since the last name of all three begins with the letter “B,” they were coined around here as the “Killer B’s.”

It had been a few years since any of them pulled off the feat, but after the just-concluded WTA stop in Stuttgart, Germany, one of the original members is back with a vengeance.

After winning the singles title, Barty and her partner, Jennifer Brady (a future Killer B?) claimed the doubles crown with a win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Desirae Krawczyk in a match tiebreak. It’s Brady’s first career doubles title and Barty’s second career tournament sweep.

‘POWER’ MOVES

For all the talk of Rafael Nadal’s dominance at the ATP tournament in Barcelona, Spain, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah are getting quite familiar with making the post-victory celebration dive themselves.

The duo, who won the tournament the last year it was held in 2019, defended their title without dropping a set all week, including in the final over Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau. It’s the second title of the year for “Colombian Power” and first on clay in nearly two years. Though their Grand Slam victories have come on hard and grass courts, Cabal and Farah showed that they’re still among the teams to beat on the slippery stuff.

SINGLES FOES, DOUBLES CHAMPS

In the semifinals at the Tennis Championship Istanbul, Elise Mertens, the top seed in singles, only dropped one set on her way to the championship match, with that run including a straight-sets win over the third seed Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinals.

Kudermetova wasn’t done with the tournament, though, as she still had the doubles to contest—with Mertens on her side. The partners lived up to their billing as the top seeds and claimed their first title together, beating Nao Hibino and Makoto Ninomiya in the final.

Kudermetova, who was coming off her first career singles title in Charleston, S.C., notched her second career doubles victory, while Mertens picked up her second doubles win of the year after her Australian Open triumph with Aryna Sabalenka.

TWIN PEAKS

At the Serbia Open, the draw was rife with players that had won multiple titles, making for a surprisingly deep field. One of them, the top seeds Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar, battled through to their fourth final of the year.

However, it was perhaps the most unlikely team in the whole tournament that put an end to their run.

Ivan and Matej Sabanov—who got in the field by way of wild card—shocked Behar and Escobar in straight sets in the final.

The Croatian twins, who won their first ATP title, didn’t drop a set all week to complete a dream run.

THIS WEEK

The men have two events on the calendar. At the BMW Open in Munich, Germany, Wesley Koolhof and Kevin Krawietz are the top seeds, followed by Aussies John Peers and Luke Saville. Marcus Daniell and Philipp Oswald, the fourth seeds, are already through to the quarterfinals. In Estoril, Portugal, Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin headline the field, with Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan holding down the second-seeded spot. Third seeds Austin Krajicek and Oliver Marach eked out a match tiebreak win in their opener to reach the quarterfinals.

The women are getting things started in Madrid towards the end of the week. Look out for more on that in the days ahead.