Czech Krejcikova adds women’s doubles to singles title at French Open
Djokovic beats Tsitsipas to win men’s final • France’s Mahut, Herbert win doubles
PARIS (Reuters) – Czech Barbora Krejcikova completed a singles-doubles title sweep at the French Open on Sunday when she lifted the women’s doubles trophy with compatriot Katerina Siniakova, beating Iga Swiatek and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 6-2.
Krejcikova became the first player to win both the women’s singles and doubles title in Paris since Frenchwoman Mary Pierce completed the feat in 2000.
The 25-year-old Krejcikova, who will climb to 15th in singles following her maiden Grand Slam singles title on Saturday, will return as the world’s number one doubles player when the rankings are updated on Monday.
Swiatek, the 2020 singles champion, and Mattek-Sands were playing only their third tournament together and found the going tough against Siniakova’s nimble movement and skillful netplay and Krejcikova’s strong performance from the baseline.
The second-seeded Czech pair, who also won the Roland Garros title in 2018, quickly jumped to a 5-1 lead and though Swiatek and Mattek-Sands fought back to 5-4, they could not stop Krejcikova from serving out for the set.
On a windy day under the Parisian sun, Siniakova had continued trouble with her serve and the Czech duo had a total of eight double faults
in the match.
But the pair, who also won the 2019 Wimbledon doubles title, overcame their serving trouble with their experience and excellent coordination.
The number two seeds lost serve once in the second set but broke their opponents three times and sealed the win when Siniakova hit a backhand winner on their second match point.
Meanwhile, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut became the first French pair to win their home Grand Slam twice when they defeated Kazakhs Alexander Bublik and Andrey Golubev 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4 in the men’s doubles final at Roland Garros on Saturday.
Herbert and Mahut, who have won all four majors in doubles together, added to their 2018 French Open title after recovering from a shaky start.
They saved three match points in the semi-finals against
Colombians Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
The only other home favorites to lift the trophy were Henri Leconte and Yannick Noah in 1984 and Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in 2014.
It is Herbert and Mahut’s fifth Grand Slam title after their 2018 French Open triumph and titles at the 2015 US Open, Wimbledon 2016 and the 2019 Australian Open.
They only lost one Grand Slam final, their first, at the 2015 Australian Open.
DJOKOVIC COMEBACK
Novak Djokovic fought back from two sets down to beat Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(6) 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 to win the French Open title for the second time on Sunday.
The Serbian world number one increased his Grand Slam tally to 19 titles, and is now one adrift of the men’s record held by Roger Federer and
Rafael Nadal.
Tsitsipas recovered from a break down to win the opening set in a tiebreak before he raced through the second set.
But Djokovic was determined to ensure that all the effort he put in to beat 13-time Roland Garros champion Nadal in the semi-finals did not go to waste and he started to assert his authority to win the third set.
Before the start of the fourth set, the 22-year-old Greek requested the trainer to come on court to manipulate and massage his lower back.
But that intervention failed to revive Tsitsipas’ fortunes and Djokovic was virtually unchallenged in the fourth set.
The Serb broke decisively for a 2-1 lead in the decider before securing the win in four hours and 11 minutes that made him the first man since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win all four Grand Slams titles at least twice.