WHAT HAPPENED: Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka just love a doubles final on a hard court. After collecting titles in Indian Wells and Miami earlier this season, the No. 4 seeds defeated No. 8 seeds Victoria Azarenka and Ashleigh Barty, 7-5, 7-5, to lift the hardware at the 2019 US Open. This is the first Grand Slam doubles title for both.
Azarenka and Barty (who was actually defending the doubles title she won here with CoCo Vandeweghe last year) are a potent doubles pairing—Azarenka returns so sharply, while Barty possesses some of the best net skills in the game—but when the Belarusian Sabalenka is hitting with so much power and control, as she was in the first set, winning is a tough mountain to climb. Time and again, Sabalenka's commanding shots forced errors off her opponents' racquets; both Barty and Azarenka made great reflexive gets, but they'd immediately be put in an uncomfortable defensive position, allowing Sabalenka or Mertens to take control of the point. Never was this more evident with Azarenka serving at 5-5. Azarenka was actually ahead 40-15 in the game, and then two hard shots right to Barty at the net forced the Australian to miss. Azarenka was then broken, and although she and Barty actually combined to hit more winners in the set, they still lost it, 7-5.
In the second set, the teams traded breaks and stayed on serve to 5-4, with Mertens saving four break points on her own service game at 4-3. Then, the eleventh game turned into a bad case of deja vu for Azarenka. Up 40-15 on her serve, Mertens and Sabalenka hit two consecutive winners to get to deuce. Azarenka and Barty then made two straight unforced errors to dump the service game. Mertens then stepped up to serve out the match. At 6-5, 40-30—championship point—the two teams played an incredible rally, and Barty threw up a defensive lob that put Mertens and Sabalenka on the back foot. They were able to get the ball back short, and it looked like Barty and Azarenka would even the score to deuce. But Azarenka hit the overhead long, and her opponents dropped to the ground, celebrating their win.
The matchup and scoreline is similar to what happened the last time this group of four played, in the semifinals of Miami, with Mertens/Sabalenka also triumphing in two tight sets, 7-6, 7-5.
WHAT IT MEANS: This is the first Grand Slam trophy of any kind for Mertens and Sabalenka, who both primarily focus on singles. Interestingly, Azarenka and Barty also focus on singles play as well, which means that Sunday's championship contest featured no doubles specialists (and therefore less points at the net).
Mertens and Sabalenka first teamed up at the Australian Open in January, where they made it to the third round, before going on to win their back-to-back titles at Indian Wells and Miami in March. The two are a major contrast in styles: Mertens is known for her consistency and counterpunching, while Sabalenka is known for her controlled aggression. Could this win springboard them to becoming an unlikely, dominant doubles pairing in the future?
"I have to thank Aryna," Mertens said at the trophy ceremony. "She keeps me going, I keep her going. We're a good team. I hope we'll [continue to] play doubles in the future, but I think so."
Deadpanned Sabalenka, "I will think about it."
At the very least, the US Open win has now qualified them for the WTA Doubles Finals in Shenzen at the end of the season.
MATCH POINT: It's been a tough two weeks for Azarenka playing Sabalenka. She began the fortnight with a loss in singles to her younger compatriot, and now ends the tournament with a loss to her in doubles.
