Doubles Take: Bryans seek first '19 title in Delray

Doubles Take is your look at a busy couple of weeks on both tours for the top teams in the world.

THIS WEEK

For the second week in a row, the men have three events on the calendar. At the Rio Open, local talents Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares are giving it a go together instead of with their usual partners, Lukasz Kubot and Jamie Murray, respectively. Brazil’s best doubles players are the top seeds at their home event, followed by “Colombian Power,” Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Horacio Zeballos will be going for his third final in as many weeks as he teams up with Nikola Mektic.

In Marseille, France, the top seeds are Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, who will be looking to get their season on track. Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, the defending champs, are already out.

And coming off a surprise first-round loss in New York, Bob and Mike Bryan headline the draw at the Delray Beach Open in Florida. Right off the bat, though, the four-time tournament champs face New York Open winners Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. The Skupski brothers, Ken and Neal—the second seeds—lost their opener for the second week in a row.

The women’s draw in Dubai is loaded with many of the world’s best teams. It must be a bad week for second-seeded pairings as Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke also dropped their first match.

Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, the top seeds, have advanced to the second round. At the other WTA stop in Budapest, Kirsten Flipkens and Johanna Larsson headline the draw, followed by Irina-Camelia Begu and Galina Voskoboeva.

Here’s a look at the most recent winners at tour stops around the world.

SISTER ACT II

Reunited this year, Latisha and Hao-Ching Chan haven’t missed a step. The sisters claimed their second title of the year in Doha.

Unseeded, the duo topped Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs in the final.

A BITE OF THE BIG APPLE

For Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, New York will always hold a special place in their hearts going forward.

After defeating the Skupski brothers in the first round, the Germans kept rolling to their first title, beating the veterans Santiago Gonzalez and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in the final.

DIGGING THE DIRT

Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos and Maximo Gonzalez have been taking “home-court advantage” to new heights: a final-round appearance in Cordoba was just followed up with the title in Buenos Aires.

trium

In the final, they were serving up breadsticks, beating singles stars Dominic Thiem and Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-1.

A WINNING START

Henri Kontinen didn’t play with his usual partner John Peers in Rotterdam, but he did more than all right with Jeremy Chardy.

The two made a perfect debut as they denied Jean-Julien Rojer the title in his home tournament. The Dutchman and his partner Horia Tecau dropped to 1-2 in finals at the ATP 500 event.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias