ITF

6 ITFWORLD WINTER 2017 C HAN YUNG-JAN and MARTINA HINGIS swept all before them in 2017 to end the season as ITF World Champions in women's doubles in their first year together. And first-time turned into only-time at the end of their outstanding season, when Hingis announced her third and final retirement from the sport. Chan, 28, is the first woman from Chinese Taipei to be named ITF World Champion and just the second player from her country after Yang Tsung- Hua, who was the 2008 boys World Champion. Hingis is ITF World Champion in doubles for the third time, having received the award alongside Anna Kournikova in 1999 and with Sania Mirza in 2015. The 37-year- old was also World Champion in singles three times in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Having never played together before February, the pair were an instant success, reaching the quarterfinals or better at all 16 events they played and finishing the season with a 53-7 win-loss record. Chan and Hingis won nine titles from nine finals across three surfaces, lifting the trophies at Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome, Mallorca, Eastbourne, Cincinnati, the US Open, Wuhan and Beijing. In New York, the duo defeated Czechs Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova 63 62 to win the US Open title without dropping a set. It was Chan's first Grand Slam title after three previous appearances in major women's doubles finals, while for Hingis it was her 13th women's doubles title and a staggering 25th Grand Slam title overall. The pair jointly clinched the No. 1 doubles ranking at Beijing in the penultimate tournament of the season. L UKASZ KUBOT and MARCELO MELO are the 2017 ITF World Champions in men's doubles after a highly successful first full season together. The Polish-Brazilian pairing won a tour-leading six titles including Wimbledon, reached four further finals, and finished the year as the No. 1-ranked doubles team. Their partnership got off to a slow start, but Kubot, 35, and Melo, 34, reached their first final together in Indian Wells in March, and two weeks later in Miami won their first tournament. They lifted the trophy in Madrid before hitting peak form on grass, remaining undefeated on the surface through successive titles in 's-Hertogenbosch, Halle and Wimbledon. At the All England Club, Kubot and Melo battled through four five-set matches and won their first major team title with a marathon 57 75 76(2) 36 13-11 final victory over Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic which lasted four hours, 40 minutes. Celebrated in style, it was a second Grand Slam doubles title for both players. Kubot and Melo's 17-match winning streak extended into the final at Washington, where they finished runners-up to Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who were their closest rivals throughout 2017. Kubot and Melo went on to be runners-up to Kontinen and Peers in Shanghai, captured their sixth title in Paris, and sealed the year-end top spot during the ATP Finals, where they were finalists, again to the Finnish- Aussie duo. Kubot is the first Polish man to be named World Champion in any category, and just the second Polish player to receive the award after Urszula Radwanska was girls World Champion in 2007. Melo ensures that a Brazilian is receiving the men's doubles award for a second successive year, following Bruno Soares in 2016. ITF WORLD CHAMPIONS

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