Doubles Take: Rotterdam, Doha & more

Milestone wins, streaks end and more from the world of team action in this week’s Doubles Take.

KEEPING IT 100

Max Mirnyi keeps piling up the big numbers. “The Beast,” playing in his 100th combined tour final, won the inaugural New York Open with Phillipp Oswald over Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak.

It might be overlooked at this point, but Mirnyi wasn’t a bad singles player more than a decade ago, with four of the 100 title-round appearances coming in that discipline. Doubles, though, is where he’s established himself as one of the best of his generation.

DOHA SURPRISE

The top four seeds at the WTA tournament in Doha were among the best in the business, with multiple Grand Slam rankings and time spent at the top of the rankings between them.

None of them made it to the semifinals.

In fact, the final was quite a surprise as unseeded Gabriela Dabrowski  and Jelena Ostapenko beat the eighth-seeded Andreja Klepa and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Dabrowski’s had a great start to the year, having won in Sydney with her usual partner Yifan Xu, then taking the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open with Mate Pavic.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END

Making their first appearance since the Australian Open, Oliver Marach and Pavic came oh-so-close to extending their perfect 2018 in the Rotterdam final. However, in the final, they came up against a pair that knows a thing or two about winning: Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

The Frenchmen won their 11th title together, and they continue to play their best in the biggest tournaments: This was their third ATP 500-level title. The other eight have come at the ATP Masters 1000s and Grand Slams.

THIS ONE’S FOR THE FANS

Andres Molteni and Horacio Zeballos won their second career title together—and first since 2016—at the Argentina Open by pulling off a feat that might’ve seemed impossible of late: defeating Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah at the tournament. “Colombian Power” was the two-time defending champion, but couldn’t keep the run going against the Argentine duo.

A LOOK AHEAD

The women have another Premier event on tap, this time in Dubai, with the draw led by Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, followed by Latisha Chan and Andrea Hlavackova.

In Budapest, the top seeds are Kirsten Flipkens and Johanna Larsson, while Anna Smith and Renata Voracova hold down the two spot.

For the men, the “Golden Swing” continues with the Rio Open in Brazil. Hometown hero Marcelo Melo and his partner, Lukasz Kubot, are the top seeds. Another native son, Bruno Soares, will vie for the title with Jamie Murray.

Speaking of local love, Mahut will be in Marseille, teamed up with countryman Julien Benneteau this time. They’re the three seeds in a draw led by Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, and Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

At the Delray Beach Open, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan will look to bounce back after their early loss in New York. They’ll face challenges from Mirnyi and Oswald, Ben Mclachlan and Hugo Nys, and Nicholas Monroe and John-Patrick Smith.

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