Doubles Take: Rounding up the Miami Open

Welcome back to Doubles Take, where we take a look at what’s happening on the ATP and WTA tours in team play. Miami was the place to be, with some shocking results, ranking shifts and more occurring.

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

That must have been some practice session!

Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu had never played together, or even competed against each other. They did manage to get in a practice session at the recently completed BNP Paribas Open, though, and decided to team up for the Miami Open—which would be one of the best decisions of their tennis careers.

The unseeded team beat four seeded teams on their way to the title, including three of the top four teams in a row. In the final against Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova, they lost serve early in the first, but then turned it on the rest of the match to take it 6-4, 6-3. It’s the first Mandatory title for both.

If only every decision on a whim worked out so well.

SO CLOSE TO THE 'SUNSHINE DOUBLE'

Veterans Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot decided to team up full-time this year and found their first sign of success in Indian Wells, where they reached the final, losing the title match in a super tiebreak.

That’s the thing about life on tour: You get a chance to redeem yourself pretty quickly. And this time, the Brazilian-Polish duo made the most of that next opportunity, winning the final, 7-5, 6-3, over Americans Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock.

Monroe and Sock, great friends off the court, fought gamely as this point shows.

In the end, though, it was Kubot and Melo who were the victors, capturing their third title together after Vienna in 2015 and 2016.

NEWS & NOTES

There’s a new No. 1 in men’s doubles this week as Henri Kontinen takes over the top spot. Kontinen becomes the first No. 1 in any discipline from Finland. While he and his partner John Peers might be on a title-less streak right now, there’s no denying what they accomplished at the end of last year and the beginning of this one, including picking up the 2017 Australian Open.

If you happened to peek at the Challenger results, you might happen to notice a very familiar name in the winner’s circle in Leon. Leander Paes teamed up with Adil Shamasdin to win the title.  And check out this stat on Paes, the ageless wonder:

A LOOK AHEAD

The women have two tournaments on the docket, in South Carolina on the clay and Monterrey, Mexico, on hard courts. In Charleston, the top seeds are Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova. The draw is deep, with Mirza partnering Andrea Hlavackova this week in the two spot, and dangerous floaters like Abigail Spears/Katarina Srebotnik and Kateryna Bondarenko/Dabrowski, in the mix. Also, fan favorites Jelena Jankovic and Andrea Petkovic will be teaming up, and it's always fun times with those two.

In Monterrey, the top seeds are Nao Hibino and Alicja Rosolska. Watch out for the Genie Bouchard/Christina McHale pairing, though.

For the men, it’s Davis Cup time. Doubles day can often be a critical one in a tie—either in clinching the outcome, putting a team on top or offering a bit of a lifeline to build upon. There aren’t any tournaments on the men’s side as the Davis Cup quarterfinals take place over the weekend. Grand Slam champs like Jamie Murray, John Peers, Nenad Zimonjic (who’s also captain of the Serbian team) and Marc Lopez should all be in action.