US Open champion Emma Raducanu teams up with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina for the women's doubles competition at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati
Reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu has teamed up with this year's Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina for the women's doubles competition at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. It's quite a high-profile pairing given the Grand Slam successes of the two individuals.
The draw for the women's doubles draw of the WTA 1000 tournament has finally been released and the British-Kazakh pair will take on the Indo-Czech duo of Sania Mirza and Lucie Hradecka in the first round.
The winner of the match will face either the unseeded pairing of Kirsten Flipkens and Sara Sorribes Tormo or seventh seeds Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok in the next round.
Doubles draw at #CincyTennis.
Notable pairings:
Raducanu/Rybakina
Azarenka/Jabeur
Kontaveit/Stephens https://t.co/S4Lrv8kgqr
A few other big singles names have also partnered with one another in the doubles tournament in Cincinnati this year. Victoria Azarenka has teamed up with Ons Jabeur and the pair will go up against Shuko Aoyama and Chan Hao-ching in the opening round.
Meanwhile, World No. 2 Anett Kontaveit will partner Sloane Stephens and the duo will face Caroline Dolehide and Storm Sanders in the first round.
How have Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina fared this season?
Emma Raducanu has endured a pretty disappointing season in 2022 following her US Open triumph last year. While the Brit's ranking has improved, she has won only 11 out of 25 matches so far this season.
Rybakina, on the other hand, attained the biggest success of her fledgling career so far in 2022, winning Wimbledon by defeating Ons Jabeur in the final. The Kazakh's performances since then haven't been particularly good, as she lost in the first round of the Silicon Valley Classic and the second round of the Canadian Open.
In doubles, Raducanu only competed at the Citi Open, partnering Clara Tauson. The pair lost 4-6, 1-6 to third seeds Monica Niculescu and Lucie Hradecka in the opening round.
Rybakina has been more of a regular on the doubles circuit this season compared to Raducanu, competing in eight tournaments. However, the Kazakh's best outing was reaching the last 16 at the Italian Open with Liudmila Samsonova as her partner.
Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina were seen practicing together in Cincinnati, and it will be interesting to see how the pair fare in the doubles tournament at the Western & Southern Open.
The two newest women’s first time grand slam champions, Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina, are hitting together in Cincinnati.
Dmitry Tursunov is here again with Raducanu. https://t.co/aarPfteLcW
In their respective singles campaigns, Raducanu will kickstart her run in Cincinnati with a first-round clash against Serena Williams, while Rybakina will lock horns with Mayar Sherif in her opener.