Krawczyk Reaces First Slam Final with Guarachi in Paris

American Desirae Krawczyk's career-best run at a major will continue into championship Sunday at the French Open. 

The 26-year-old left-hander and her partner, Alexa Guarachi of Chile, advanced to their first career Grand Slam doubles final on Friday in Paris with a 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 win over another American, Nicole Melichar, and Poland's Iga Swiatek.  

The winning team came from behind in both sets they won in a grueling encounter that lasted two hours and 28 minutes overall. In a marathon opener that lasted over an hour, Krawczyk and Guarach battled back from a 5-2, double-break deficit and saved four set points in the process, and they later trailed by a break three different times in the decider.

Melichar was bidding to reach her third career women's doubles final at a Grand Slam, and second this summer after finishing runner-up at the US Open with China's Xu Yifan, alongside the teenaged Swiatek, who will face Sofia Kenin in Saturday's singles final. 

Neither Guarachi nor Krawczyk had ever advanced past the third round in a Grand Slam women’s doubles event prior to this fortnight, but the duo owns two clay-court titles together, and won the WTA tournament in Istanbul last month as perfect preparation. This fortnight, the No. 14 seeds previously knocked off two higher-seeded teams, including a stunning third-round win over top seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova, who'd won 14 straight matches and their last three tournaments. 

Both players previously graduated from decorated collegiate programs prior to embarking on a professional career, with Krawczyk having graduated from Arizona State University in 2016 and American-born Chilean Guarachi having played her NCAA tennis at the University of Alabama from 2010-13. Krawczyk, from Palm Desert, Calif., owns four WTA doubles titles in her career in six previous finals at the tour's International-level events, having won her last three.

In the final, Krawczyk and Guarachi will face No. 2 seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France, the defending champions, who are playing their seventh Grand Slam final together.