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. 

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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.