Doubles Take: Auger-Aliassime, Hurkacz rock Paris

As the season winds down, Doubles Take looks at the last few tournaments for both tours. (Photos: Getty Images)

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

With moves like these...

...It’s hard to imagine Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz as anything but Paris Masters champs.

Considered two of the game’s next big stars in singles, the Canadian-Polish duo showed they have natural chemistry together, as they beat three of the top eight seeds on their way to the title. They upset the top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo in the semifinals, then staged a comeback for the ages against Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares—the reigning US Open champions—in the final.

While Auger-Aliassime is 0-6 in singles finals, he's now 1-0 in doubles finals. Understandably, they were quite thrilled with the result.

They even got a shout-out from one of Hurkacz’ countrywomen, who knows a thing or two about what it takes to win in Paris.

THIS WEEK

The WTA Tour wraps up its season this week at the 30th edition of the Linz, Austria, tournament. The indoor event sees Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova sitting atop the draw, followed by Gabriela Dabrowski and Vera Zvonareva. The second seeds are already through to the quarterfinals after a straight-sets win in the first round. The top-seeded Czech team is a heavy favorite for the title: Even though much of Siniakova’s success the past couple of years has come with countrywoman Barbora Krejcikova, she and Hradecka have had impressive results together; most notably reaching the US Open final in 2017.

The men are playing their last regular-season tournament this week, too, in Sofia, Bulgaria. Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin are the top seeds, followed by Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski. The Brits, still in search of a first team title, won their opening match to advance to the quarterfinals.