ITF

I T F W O R L D C H A M P I O N S COLOMBIAN DUO JUAN SEBASTIAN CABAL AND ROBERT FARAH WILL HAVE THEIR LONG- STANDING PARTNERSHIP TOASTED DURING Roland Garros after being named ITF World Champions in men's doubles following a stunning 2019 season. Friends for nearly three decades, Cabal and Farah made their presence felt during the past 12 months and conjured a formula which, at times, proved unfathomable for their rivals. Warnings were sounded in April as the pair secured a 12th Tour-level career title in Barcelona. Cabal and Farah recovered from a break down in both sets and saved five set points in the second before dispatching Great Britain's Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the final. The second of five trophies during 2019 arrived in Rome a month later as Cabal and Farah claimed back-to-back titles in the Italian capital courtesy of a routine victory over South Africa's Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus of New Zealand in the final. But as the clay-court season ceased, a seminal moment for the duo arrived in the form of the first trophy of their career on grass – a surface which they have traditionally struggled on. Eastbourne was the venue and the top seeds navigated their path to the final where they overturned a one-set deficit to defeat Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos. TIMEA BABOS AND KRISTINA MLADENOVIC WERE NAMED 2019 ITF WORLD CHAMPIONS IN WOMEN'S DOUBLES AFTER THE Hungarian-French pairing produced a hugely successful and consistent campaign. It is the second time that Mladenovic has received the accolade, having won alongside France's Caroline Garcia in 2016, while she was also named girls' ITF World Champion in 2009. Babos and Mladenovic's season was underpinned by their triumph at Roland Garros in June, which was their second Grand Slam title as a partnership following their victory at the Australian Open in 2018. Seeded second for the tournament, the duo navigated the field in style and lifted silverware courtesy of a convincing defeat of China's Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai in the final. Australia's Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai of China were dispatched in the quarter-finals, which proved a modicum of revenge as they were the pair which halted Babos and Mladenovic's title charge in Melbourne in January. Babos and Mladenovic had progressed to the final, losing just a solitary set in the process, but found the unseeded Stosur and Zhang an obdurate duo who topped the podium following a 6-3 6-4 success. There would be no other Grand Slam joy for the Babos- Mladenovic axis post-Roland Garros, although they did go deep and reach the business end of both Wimbledon and the US Open. Despite being the top seeds, Babos and Mladenovic exited Wimbledon after suffering a straight-sets defeat to eventual champions Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Czech Republic's Barbora Strycova in the semi-finals. A victory charge appeared in the offing at the US Open also, although Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Australia's Ashleigh Barty put paid to that ambition in the semi- finals. But further silverware was still forthcoming and Babos and Mladenovic concluded their campaign in style by winning the doubles title at the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen. It was the first time in 11 years, since Australian duo Lisa Raymond and Stosur in 2006, that any pair had successfully defended their title. For Babos, it was a third successive triumph at the event having prevailed alongside Czech Republic's Andrea Hlavackova in 2017. Babos and Mladenovic went undefeated in Shenzhen and demonstrated considerable resolve to stoically win three decisive tiebreaks, including during a thriller of a semi-final against Stosur and Zhang. That paved the way for a showdown with Hsieh and Strycova in the final, only this time there was no repeat of their Wimbledon showing and Babos and Mladenovic duly triumphed. Mladenovic, who played a starring role as France defeated Australia in November's Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Final, finished No.2 in the year-end rankings, while Babos finished third. Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 08 ITFWorld // WINTER 2019/20 Mladenovic and Babos had a season to remember

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