Doubles Take: Wimbledon and more

The year’s third major has come and gone: Doubles Take looks back at Wimbledon and previews the week ahead.

‘POWER’ PLAYERS

Right before Wimbledon started, Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal, aka “Colombian Power,” won their first career title on grass in Eastbourne.

It turns out that was the perfect preparation going in to the Championships.

In a five-set classic, the second seeds topped Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin for their first Grand Slam title together. Over the past several seasons, the duo has played the best tennis of its career, and now, both of them are tied for the top spot in the doubles rankings.

A TOURNAMENT TO REMEMBER

At this year’s Wimbledon, Barbora Strycova reached the semifinals in singles, her first final-four showing at a Grand Slam.

And she wasn’t done with notching major milestones.

The Czech and Su-Wei Hsieh took the women’s doubles crown over Gabriela Dabrowski over Yifan Xu for their fourth title of the year.

This was Strycova’s first Grand Slam title as a professional, and Hsieh’s third. The victory also put Strycova atop the doubles rankings for the first time.

THE MIXED FORTUNES CONTINUE

This had to be one of the most closely followed mixed doubles competitions in recent memory with the big-name pairing of Andy Murray and Serena Williams, and observers wondering how many times Jelena Ostapenko was going to hit her partner Robert Lindstedt.

Amid all of that, the team of Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan kept doing what they do best: win.

Two of the best doubles players on the ATP and WTA tours won their second Slam in a row—and third overall—as they topped Ostapenko and Lindstedt in straight sets in the final. Dropping only one set all tournament, they became the first team in 33 years to pull off the French Open-Wimbledon double.

THIS WEEK

It’s back to regular-season action for the tours, both of which aren’t done with the clay courts just yet. The women have two tournaments on the dirt this week: At the Bucharest Open in Romania, hometown favorites Irina-Camelia Begu and Raluca Olaru are the top seeds as they try to take the title for the second time in three years. Begu is actually seeking a three-peat, having won last year with countrywoman Andreea Mitu. The second seeds are Aleksandra Krunic and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The other WTA event this week, the Swiss Open—held in Lausanne for the first time—features Monique Adamczak and Xinyun Han atop the draw, followed by Timea Bacsinszky and Mihaela Buzarnescu.

The men have two tournaments on clay this week, too. At the Swedish Open, Roman Jebavy and Matwe Middelkoop are the top seeds, followed by Marcelo Demoliner and Nicolas Jarry. The Croatia Open in Umag sees Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer lead the field as the Austrians try to settle into a new partnership. Their compatriot, Philipp Oswald, is partnering Dutchman Robin Haase to form the second-seeded pairing.

The last grass-court event of the year is also taking place at the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, RI. A loaded draw is headlined by top seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who won two Challenger titles on grass leading up to Wimbledon. Defending champions Jonathan Erlich and Artem Sitak are the second seeds as they try to add another title on the turf to their collection, having won in Antalya, Turkey, right before Wimbledon.

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