Doubles Take: Houston, Lugano and Monte Carlo

Wild weather made for a hectic weekend on both tours, but couldn’t stop some determined duos. A look back—and ahead, too—in this week’s Doubles Take.

THINGS WENT QUITE SWIMMINGLY

ICYMI, pre-Houston:

“Defending champs Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos, the three seeds, have a tough opener against Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald, which attests to how deep the draw is at the event.” —Doubles Take, 4/10/18

Truer words were never spoken, it seems.

After beating Peralta and Zeballos, the 2018 New York Open champs went on to win the title, knocking off Bob and Mike Bryan in the semis before rallying to defeat Andre Begemann and Antonio Sancic.

It’s their second title of the year and third since last fall. And with this one, Mirnyi and Oswald celebrated in style.

DOUBLING UP—AGAIN

Elise Mertens is having quite the season—and it’s only April.

Not only did she have to beat back the fields in the singles and doubles draws, she also had to overcome the weather. Here’s how her Saturday went:

In the end, though, the Belgian emerged triumphant in the singles and doubles draws, as she and her countrywoman Kristen Flipkens won the final over Aryna Sabalenka and Vera Lapko.

It was a tough day for Sabalenka, the singles runner-up to Mertens, who pulled off a singles-doubles sweep for the second time this year.

MOROCCAN MAGIC

Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya were already in the midst of a strong 2018 campaign going into the Grand Prix Hassan II tournament with two runner-up finishes on the year.

Now, they can call themselves champions.

The top-seeded duo won its first team title in a match tiebreak over the French pairing of Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Benoit Paire. That win came only hours after defeating Divij Sharan and Jan-Lennard Struff after weather washed out play on Saturday, making the eventual triumph twice as nice.

ON THE GO IN BOGOTA

After two runner-up finishes at $125,000 events last November and an ITF title this year, Irina Khromacheva and Dalila Jakupovic were primed for a breathrough—one they achieved at the Copa Colsanitas in Bogota.

Rain messed with the scheduling all week (what’s up, Mother Nature?) but in the end, first-time WTA finalist Khromacheva—who won three doubles Slams in the juniors—and Jakupovic prevailed.

A LOOK AHEAD

The biggest event for the women this week is the Fed Cup semifinals. The defending champion U.S. squad takes on France, while the Czech Republic—which has been nothing short of a dynasty in the competition—faces a loaded German team.

On the ATP Tour, the men are playing their third ATP Masters 1000 event of the year—and first on clay—in Monte Carlo. Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas, the defending champions, are teaming up with different partners this year: Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Marcel Granollers, respectively. The top-two seeded teams are Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, and Henri Kontinen and John Peers. Both duos have gone without a title since January.

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