US Open Sunday: Doubles Championship

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The singles champion has been crowned in New York. Now it’s time for the doubles hardware to be handed out! Chris Oddo previews Sunday’s doubles final right here at wtatennis.com.

Day 14
Doubles Final

[1] Caroline Garcia (FRA #3) / Kristina Mladenovic (FRA #4) vs. [12] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA #16) / Lucie Safarova (CZE #42)
Head-to-head: Garcia and Mladenovic lead, 1-0
Key Stat: Mladenovic and Garcia snapped Mattek-Sands and Safarova’s 8-match winning streak in this year’s Charleston final.

France’s dynamic duo of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic will seek its second Grand Slam title of the year while Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova will look to claim their third major title of the last two seasons in Sunday’s US Open Women’s Doubles final. Garcia and Mladenovic are currently No.3 and No.4 respectively in the WTA’s double rankings, but they are playing like they have their eyes on the No.1 ranking here in the Big Apple. In their first season as a full-time team the pair are in the midst of a career season that has seen them go on a 16-match winning streak and earn four trophies, including an emotional run to the Roland Garros title where they became the first French team to win in Paris since 1971. The Frenchwomen became the second team to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global earlier this week and they have not skipped a beat since. Garcia and Mladenovic have defeated the WTA’s No.1 and No.2 ranked doubles players in the last two rounds, notching wins over No.7-seeded Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova in the quarterfinals before taking out No.6-seeded Martina Hingis and CoCo Vandeweghe in the semifinals. And they’ve yet to drop a set all fortnight.

Their opponents should be their toughest test to date, however. Two-time major champions Mattek-Sands and Safarova have finally located their missing mojo in New York. After falling in the first round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, they have snapped a four-match losing streak as a team en route to their third Grand Slam final and first at the US Open. They defeated 2014 US Open champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the semifinals, and have gone 5-1 in finals as a team overall. Can Mattek-Sands and Safarova, reunited after a long hiatus due to Safarova’s health concerns and individual Olympic preparations, ride the emotional wave to a third major title? Or will Les Bleus have another crowning moment on the Grand Slam stage?

Pick: Mattek-Sands and Safarova in three

By the Numbers:
1
– Only one all-French duo has reached the final at Flushing Meadows (Chanfreau/Durr were runners-up in 1970). Garcia and Mladenovic are bidding to be the first all-French champions.
5-1
– Safarova and Mattek-Sands’ record in finals as a team. They won their first five finals before falling to Garcia and Mladenovic in the Charleston final.
19
– Mattek-Sands owns more doubles than any of the other three finalists. She’s bidding for her 20th title today. Mladenovic owns 16 titles, Safarova owns 9 and Garcia has won 6.

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