The Belgian Elise Mertens and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka became the new women’s doubles champions at the United States Open this Sunday by beating Australian Ashleigh Barty and Victoria Azarenka, also Belarusian, 7-5, 7-5.
Mertens and Sabalenka, who went 10-0 during the month of March when they captured the two titles of the “Sunshime Double”, in the Premier 5 tournaments of Indian Wells and Miami, where they also beat Barty and Azarenka in the semifinals, finish the season as champions at Flushing Meadows.
They had also made it to the semi-finals at Roland Garros and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
The new doubles champions of the US Open decided their triumph thanks to the four breaks they made in the same opportunities they had, while Azarenka and Barty only took advantage of 2 of 8.
The game, which lasted one hour and 36 minutes, was not good, with a poor serve by both pairs although they ended up with more winners than unforced errors.
Mertens and Sabalenka finished the match with 26 winners and 24 unforced errors, while Azarenka and Barty had 30 and 18, respectively. EFE