Doubles Take: The pro tours hit the home stretch

The 2019 season is winding down, and Doubles Take is here every step of the way with a look at the latest action.

LIVING THE TEENAGE DREAM

If there’s one thing teenagers Coco Gauff and Cary McNally have shown in their fledgling careers, it’s that they know how to quickly put disappointment behind them.

After losing in the first round in singles at the Luxembourg Open, the Americans went on to capture the doubles crown. It’s their second title of the year after winning in Washington under the same circumstances.

TAKING STOCKHOLM

With 41 men’s doubles titles between them going into the Stockholm Open, the scratch pairing of Henri Kontinen and Edouard Roger-Vasselin was as dangerous a floater as one could expect to see in a draw.

The Finnish-French duo lived up to that designation, too.

Kontinen and Roger-Vasselin halted the winning streak of Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares in the final, one of three seeded teams they beat on their way to the title.

WINNERS ONCE AGAIN

Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies realized the dream of every tennis player this summer when they captured their first Grand Slam title at the French Open. Instead of rolling from there, though, the Germans struggled for months until they reached the semis at the US Open.

That run and their showing in Antwerp, Belgium, indicate they’re in it for the long haul.

The pair captured their third title of the season, defeating Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the final.

MOSCOW RULES

At the coed Kremlin Cup in Moscow, unexpected champions were the order for the weekend. Well, maybe not so much on the women’s side.

Fresh off their first title together last week at the Tianjin Open, Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara made it two championships in a row, claiming the title over Kirsten Flipkens and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Among the men, No. 4 seeds Marcelo Demoliner and Matwe Middelkoop took the title over the unseeded pairing of Simone Bolelli and Andres Molteni. A few weeks after reaching their first final together in Zhuhai, the champions won their first tournament together—without dropping a set.

THIS WEEK

The first of two year-end championships on the WTA Tour is taking place this week at the Zhuhai Elite Trophy in China. Six teams, two by way of wild card, are in the round-robin competition, with former champions Yingying Duan, who won in 2017, and Lyudmyla Kichenok, a winner last year with her sister Nadiia, among the players.

The men have two events on tap. At the Swiss Indoors, US Open finalists and top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, as well as the No. 2 seeds Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen are through to the quarters. No. 3 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies are out, having fallen to Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in a rematch of this year’s French Open final won by the Germans. In Vienna, Austria, top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo won their opener, as did the No. 3-seeded duo of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut—reunited once again.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias