(FILA Luxembourg S.à r.l.) - FILA sponsored player Timea Babos captured her fourth Grand Slam title alongside partner Kristina Mladenovic, after the pair overcame a tough fight from former NCAA Division I athletes Alexa Guarachi (University of Alabama) and Desiree Krawczyk (Arizona State University) 6-4, 7-5 in Sunday’s final.
With the win, Babos and Mladenovic are the first WTA team to successfully defend their doubles title in Paris since Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual did so in 2009.
The duo’s path to the final provided a number of formidable challengers, of which they defeated in large part due to excellent court coverage and frequent and effective communication. Babos/Mladenovic stormed past the teams of Putintseva/Kalinskaya and Christian/Olmos before their most dominant performance was put on full display in the third round against Romania’s pairing of Tig/Mitu. The 6-2, 6-3 victory catapulted Babos/Mladenovic into the quarterfinals, where they were able to navigate their way past Sasnovich/Kostyuk in straight sets.
In the semifinals, No.4 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova posed a prominent threat to Babos/Mladenovic’s title defense, but the Franco-Hungarian pair prevailed in three tight sets 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to advance to the final.
Facing first-time Grand Slam finalists Guarachi/Krawczyk in the final, Babos and Mladenovic grinded their way through a tough first set, converting the fifth of six set point opportunities to jump out to a 6-4 lead.
The defending Paris champions used a handful of break point opportunities in the second set to grab hold early, and would not let go of that lead en route to the 6-4, 7-5 victory. The title is Babos and Mladenovic’s fourth Grand Slam title together and second this year (Australian Open).
"I'm really, really happy after the US Open to take the title here. It's somehow very, very special. I always say it's special, but this, it's different. It's even hard to describe," Babos said after the match.
In the women’s singles competition, FILA’s Sofia Kenin put together an incredible fortnight of tennis, reaching her second Grand Slam final of 2020 but ultimately falling short to Poland’s Iga Swiatek, 6-4, 6-1.