Doubles Take: Monte Carlo, Fed Cup & more

The Bryan brothers keep rolling, while some Fed Cup ties went the distance. It’s all here in Doubles Take.

ANOTHER MASTERFUL PERFORMANCE

In 2017, Bob and Mike Bryan failed to win an ATP Masters 1000 title for the first time since 2004. This year, it appears they’re determined to put that dubious mark behind them.

The Bryans captured their second Masters title in a row after winning Miami by knocking off Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in straight sets on Sunday in Monte Carlo.

It’s their sixth career triumph in Monte Carlo and 38th Masters title.

FED CUP HEROICS

In Fed Cup playoff action, three ties went down to the wire, with the outcome decided by the doubles.

Belarus made it back to the World Group after Vera Lapko and Lidziya Marozava beat Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets.

Canada’s Bianca Andreescu and Gabriela Dabrowski topped Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk in three sets to maintain the host’s spot in World Group II.

And Japan’s Miyu Kato and Makoto Ninomiya rallied for a three-set win over Great Britain’s Johanna Konta and Heather Watson to secure a World Group II spot.

After semifinal Fed Cup action over the weekend, it’ll be the U.S. against the Czech Republic for the Fed Cup title. Both ties were decided by the final rubber, but doubles was still played. In France, Amandine Hesse and Kristina Mladenovic beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S. to make the final score 3-2.

In the other semifinal, the Czech team of Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Strycova won the first set before Germans Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld retired. That contributed to the 4-1 winning margin for the Czech squad.

A LOOK AHEAD

Both tours have a couple of events taking place. The biggest event on the WTA Tour this week is the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where Jelena Ostapenko and Raquel Atawo “wheeled” themselves to the title.

This year, Atawo is back with her partner for 2018, Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany, as the No. 4 seeds. They’re in the top half of the draw with the No. 1 seeds, Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, runners-up in three tournaments so far this year. Alla Kudryavtseva and Andrea Hlavackova, the second seeds, dropped their opener to Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke. Brisbane champs Kiki Bertens and Demi Schuurs are seeded third.

The other WTA event taking place this week is in Instabul, where Kateryna Bondarenko and Aleksandra Krunic are the top seeds, followed by Bibiane Schoofs and Renata Voracova. Defending champion Dalila Jakupovic, who won with Nadiia Kichenok last year, is back with Irina Khromacheva as they try to win a second title in 2018.

At the ATP 500-level event in Barcelona, the Bryan brothers will look to extend their winning streak. The No. 4 seeds, though, face one of the most difficult openers on tour this year as they’ll take on Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. The top two seeds are Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo and Henri Kontinen/John Peers. Monte Carlo finalists Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic are seeded third.

In Budapest, Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya top the draw as they go for their second title of the year. 2018 Australian Open semifinalists Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff are seeded second, while Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald—titlists twice already this year—are the No. 3 seeds.

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