RED-HOT MATTEK-SANDS WINS FRENCH OPEN DOUBLES TITLE

Bethanie Mattek-Sands is on a roll.

Last year, she teamed with partner Lucie Safarova to win the US Open women’s doubles title. Then, earlier this year, the Minnesota native became the No. 1 doubles player in the world for the first time. She followed that up by teaming with Safarova to win the Australian Open for her fifth career Grand Slam women’s doubles title.

On Sunday, she and Safarova capped a dominant 10 months by defeating the Australian tandem of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, 6-2, 6-1, to win the 2017 French Open women’s doubles title – the sixth major for the team.

Mattek-Sands and Safarova also teamed to win the Roland Garros and Australian Open crowns in 2015. In addition, Mattek-Sands holds two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, won at the Australian Open in 2012 and the French Open in 2015.

The victory caps a tremendous weekend for Americans in Paris. On Saturday, Whitney Osuigwe defeated Claire Liu in the first all-U.S. girls’ singles final since 1980, and Ryan Harrison teamed with New Zealander Michael Venus to defeat fellow American Donald Young and his partner, Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico, in the men’s doubles final.

Mattek-Sands and Safarova will now go to Wimbledon looking to hold all four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles at the same time for the first time since Serena and Venus Williams in 2010, and will continue their pursuit of the first women’s doubles calendar-year Grand Slam since Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver in 1984.