Doubles Take: Toronto, Montreal & more

Back-to-back big events means the U.S. Open is right around the corner. Doubles Take is here for all of that.

A PERFECT 10

Since teaming up in 2016, Henri Kontinen and John Peers have consistently stepped it up when a title’s on the line. Going into the Rogers Cup in Toronto, the duo had won their last nine finals.

Now, that number has reached double digits.

The defending ATP Finals champions won their third event of 2018 by beating this year’s Wimbledon runners-up Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen in the final. Kontinen and Peers have now won tournaments at the 250, 500 and 1000 level this year.

Is a Grand Slam next?

SCHUURS SHINES AGAIN

With three titles this year, Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs have been one of the breakout teams on the WTA Tour this year. Catching up to them is Ashleigh Barty and Demi Schuurs.

Wait, what?

Nope, that’s not a typo: Schuurs now has multiple titles with Barty, too, after the duo won the Rogers Cup by defeating Latisha Chan and Ekaterina Makarova in the final.

The Aussie-Dutch team won the Italian Open during the clay-court season for their first title together. Schuurs has now captured a share of the first-place hardware six times this season, with her other title coming along Katarina Srebotnik in Germany.

A LOOK AHEAD

Both tours are in Cincinnati this week for the last major warm-up event before the U.S. Open. While the men’s draw in Toronto featured the dynamic singles pairing of Novak Djokovic and Kevin Anderson, this week’s Masters 1000 event is more straightforward, with top specialists dominating the lineup.

The top seeds are Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, who are seeking their first title of the summer hard-court season. Wimbledon champs Mike Bryan and Jack Sock are the second seeds. Kontinen and Peers, the number-three seeds, will try to win their second title in as many weeks. One team to definitely keep an eye on is Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. The number-six seeds and defending U.S. Open champions will try to work out any rust in Tecau’s second tournament back after a lengthy layoff.

On the women’s side, French Open and Wimbledon champs Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are the top seeds, followed by the Australian Open winners Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic. There won’t be a Canada-Cincy sweep for Demi Schuurs and Ash Barty—at least not one together. Schuurs is back with Elise Mertens this week, while Barty is playing with CoCo Vandeweghe, with whom she won the Miami Open this year.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias