Veronka Kudemertova and Elise Mertens beat Luisa Stefani and Timea Babos 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 in the doubles final in Riadh claiming the WTA Finals title for the second time in four years. The Belgian and Russian team lifted the Trophy named after tennis legend Martina Navratilova. They are the 22nd and 23rdplayersto lift this trophy multiple times.
Kudemertova and Mertens had already won the WTA Finals title in Fort Worth in 2022. They reunited last April after they had not played together since they won the WTA Finals in Fort Worth three years ago. This year they won the Grand Slam title at Wimbledon and reached two WTA 1000 finals in Madrid and Rome.
Earlier this week Kudemertova and Mertens finished second to Hsieh su Wei and Jeleh Wei and Jelena Ostapenko in the round robin group before beating Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in the semifinal on Friday.
Kudemertova and Mertens broke serve at love in the third game of the opening set to race out to a 4-1 lead in the first set. Stefani and Babos back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Stefani was broken in the 11th game giving Mertens the chance to serve out the set at 6-5. Babos and Stefani saved three set points trailing 5-6 to force the tie-break.
Kudemertova and Mertens sealed the tie-break 7-4 on the fourth set point after 1 hour and 6 minutes. They earned an early break in the second game to open up 3-0 lead. Babos and Stefani held for 3-1 before Kudemertova and Mertens broke for the second time in the sixth time to race out to a 5-1 lead,. Martens won the third consecutive game for her team to close out the match with a sliding serve out wide in the seventh game after 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Mertens has won a total of 23 WTA doubles titles and reached 37 finals in her career. She lifted five Grand Slam titles, seven WTA 1000 titles, two WTA 1000s titles and ten singles titles, including two tournament this season.
“It was an amazing atmosphere. Not only today, but throughout the week, the two weeks, it’s been amazing to be back here, and especially with Veronika on my side this year. I’m very happy about that, so thank you and also thank you to everyone who made this tournament possible”, said Mertens.
Kudemertova claimed her 10th doubles title with her win in Riyadh. She won three WTA 1000 titles, one Elite Trophy and reached the Wimbledon in 2021. She also won two singles titles.
“Thanks to my partner, Elise,” Kudermetova said during the trophy presentation. “I’m so happy that we are together on one side. I hope that we can continue to play like that. Also, I would like to say thank you to our team. Sometimes they help us, sometimes no, but they’re always here with us, so thank you.”, said Veronika Kudemertova.
