Doubles Take: Davis Cup, Tokyo and Quebec

Davis Cup dalliances and group dynamics: It's all part of this week's Doubles Take, your weekly look at team action on the ATP and WTA tours.

AN AROUND-THE-WORLD AFFAIR

From Rohan Bopanna of India’s over-the-shoulder passer…

…to Baseline Player of the Week Marton Fucsovics of Hungary’s shot-making wizardry…

…to a crazy comeback from Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Nikola Mektic …

And Jean-Julien Rojer showing how the Netherlands celebrates a victory…

… Davis Cup weekend had it all.

In the world group semifinals, the French team of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut beat Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic and Filip Krajinovic in straight sets to give the team a 2-1 lead.

France would go on to win the tie 3-1 and advance to the final.

In the other semifinal, Australia also won its doubles tie to take a 2-1 lead as John Peers and Jordan Thompson routed Arthur de Greef and Ruben Bemelmans.

However, unlike France, Australia couldn’t hold on to its lead as Belgium rallied by winning the reverse singles matches to reach the final.

It’s all part of the drama that is Davis Cup.

SETTING UP SHOP—AGAIN AND AGAIN AND…

Once Shuko Aoyama finds a tournament to her liking, you can better believe she’s going to be a contender for years to come at that event.

For example, she won her fourth Citi Open title in Washington this summer. And over the weekend, she captured the third Japan Women’s Open title of her career. Teaming up with Zhaoxuan Yang, the duo beat Nottingham Open champs Monique Adamczak and Storm Sanders in straight sets.

Aoyama has now captured eight doubles titles in her career, with the only one outside of Washington and Japan coming at the Malaysian Open in 2013.

Pencil her in as a contender for the doubles title in Kuala Lumpur next year: She has to make up for lost championships there.

THE ‘KILLER B’S’ ALMOST GAINED A NEW MEMBER

Besides having last names that begin with “B,” Irina-Camelia Begu, Ashleigh Barty and Kiki Bertens have something else in common: All three of them pulled off a singles-doubles sweep at a tournament this year. Begu and Bertens even accomplished that feat in the same week.

Their group—which admittedly, only exists in the confines of Doubles Take—almost had a new addition to their ranks.

Timea Babos, seeded third in singles at the Coupe Banque Nationale in Quebec, lost the final to Alison Van Uytvanck. She rebounded from that defeat in doubles, though, as she and Andrea Hlavackova beat Canadian teenagers Bianca Andreescu and Carson Branstine, 6-3, 6-1.

Babos and Hlavackova never dropped more than three games in a set all week to win their second title of the season.

If Babos keeps playing like she did last week, membership in the “Killer B’s” could be hers.

A LOOK AHEAD

The WTA has three tournaments on tap across Asia this week, with the biggest one being the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. The Chan sisters, Hao-Ching and Yung-Jan, are reuniting for the week as the top seeds. Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu, two-time titlists in 2017, are the No. 2 seeds. Already, No. 3 seeds Abigail Spears and Alicja Rosolska have beaten Spears’ former longtime partner Raquel Atawo and Darija Jurak.

In Seoul, top seeds Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson will be going for their third title of the year. And in Guangzhou, China, Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs lead the field, with last week’s Japan Open finalists Adamczak and Sanders in the No. 2 spot.

For the men, there are two indoor tournaments this week. At the St. Petersburg Open, U.S. Men’s Clay Court champions Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos are the top seeds, with US Open quarterfinalists Nicholas Monroe and John-Patrick Smith second in the draw. Dominic Inglot, who won the title last year with Henri Kontinen, is teaming up with Daniel Nestor this year.

Herbert and Mahut, fresh off their Davis Cup weekend, are the top seeds in Metz, France. Santiago Gonzalez—who’s had some recent success in France as one of this year’s doubles runner-up in Roland Garros—is seeded second with the veteran Zimonjic.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias