Spain’s Cristina Bucsa & Sara Sorribes Tormo thrilled their home crowd fans by lifting the Mutua Madrid Open doubles title at the Caja Magica on Sunday, after a lacklustre final in which they surprisingly trounced Barbora Krejcikova & Laura Siegemund, 6-0 6-2.
There are no words to describe this feeling of having made history playing at home and having won this great tournament… It’s wonderful to have won this trophy. The fans gave us so much support and we’re very happy. Cristina Bucsa & Sara Sorribes Tormo
The No 8 seeds made history by becoming the first Spanish women to win the Madrid doubles title, after Garbiñe Muguruza & Carla Suárez Navarro had finished as runners-up in both 2014 and 2015.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Bucsa said, after their win. “I didn’t expect that. I didn’t know that we can make history, but finally, the wish came true.”
“That’s something incredible,” added Sorribes Tormo. “Winning at home, winning in Madrid, which I really like. I think the history that we have behind [us], with [teaming up] 15 minutes before, it’s pretty good.”
Playing together for the very first time, the Spaniards made a stellar team debut on home soil, coming through a quality draw before seeing off unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova & Anastasia Potapova from Russia, 6-4 7-7(1), in the semi-finals on Friday.
While each team had the same amount of winners in the first set, Bucsa & Sorribes Tormo’s 8 unforced errors were half of their opponents’ 16.
The Spaniards also were able to convert 1 of their 6 break points, while saving the sole break point they faced in the opener.
Bucsa was unable to serve out the match at 6-4, 5-4, though, with Pavlyuchenkova & Potapova pushing the second set into a critical tiebreak, but strong net play by the Spaniards helped them reach a commanding 6-0 lead in the breaker, and they closed out proceedings on their 2nd match point to make it into the final.
The fact that they entered the event only 15 minutes before the doubles deadline closed, since their regular partners were unavailable, makes their progress all the more extraordinary.
“I was signed up with Mery [Marie Bouzkova],” said Sorribes Tormo, “But I was aware she wasn’t well, and suddenly she phoned me and said she couldn’t play.
“I’d spoken with Cristina’s father the day before and he said that they didn’t have anyone, they were waiting to see if they could get in. Then I went to the gym and was lucky enough to bump into him. I said ‘Ivan, have you found anyone yet? Do you want to play?’
“He said yes. We went to the office, Mery came and withdrew, which really helped us. She did it really quickly. They said we had 15 minutes, so we had to call Mery and Cristina so we could sign up. Then Mery withdrew and Cristina joined.”
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Their opponents in the final, the recently-formed pairing of Czech Krejcikova & Siegemund from Germany, two highly experienced and successful doubles players, reached their first final as a team when they upset top seeds Hsieh Su-wei & Elise Mertens, 6-3 7-5, in their semi-final, having eased though the draw without losing a set at the WTA 1000 event.
The No 6 seeds fended off a last-minute surge by the reigning Australian Open champions Hsieh & Mertens, converting 6 of their 10 break points to collect the straight-sets win.
Grand Slam doubles champions Krejcikova & Siegemund paired up for the first time at the start of this year, with quick success as they had made the Adelaide semi-finals, the Australian Open quarter-finals and the Stuttgart semi-finals.
On Friday, after moving ahead by a set and a break, Siegemund served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, but current WTA Doubles World No.1 Hsieh from Taipei slammed an overhead on break point to pull the top seeds back on serve.
Krejcikova & Siegemund regrouped, and earned their 1st match point on Hsieh’s serve at 6-5 after a series of strong forehands by the Czech, before converting when a powerful German return forced a netted error by Belgium’s Mertens, to prevail, 6-3 7-5.
© Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
In Sunday’s final, Krejcikova & Siegemund were the clear favourites for the title, but they never got themselves going, and Bucsa & Sorribes Tormo easily rolled past the No 6 seeds in 73 minutes to hoist the trophy.
The Spaniards dominated the contest, buoyed by home support, and converting half of their 12 break points while only dropping serve once.
Additionally, the Spanish pair won 68% of points returning their opponents’ second serves on the day.
Krejcikova & Siegemund were also undone by 25 unforced errors, while Bucsa & Sorribes Tormo only made 6 miscues in the final.
Bucsa & Sorribes Tormo raced through the opening frame, in which they faced just 1 break point, a deciding point on Bucsa’s serve at 4-0.
When rain started to fall in Madrid, the roof on Manolo Santana Stadium had to be closed between sets, allowing the No 6 seeds to reset.
Krejcikova & Siegemund made a bit of a move when play resumed, with a Siegemund volley winner giving the pair their first break of the day to lead 2-1 in the second set, but the German lost her serve in the very next game, and Bucsa & Sorribes Tormo reeled off the last 5 games in a row to triumph.
“I think, every match was very, very difficult,” Sorribes Tormo said. “I think we what we did well is that we went match by match, playing every point. Even today, I think we played perfect, but it could change.”
As the tournament drew to a close, both players were emotional.
“There are no words to describe this feeling of having made history playing at home and having won this great tournament,” said Bucsa, before Sorribes Tormo added: “It’s wonderful to have won this trophy. The fans gave us so much support and we’re very happy.”
This is Bucsa’s 3rd career WTA doubles title, and her second of the year, after winning 2024 Bogota with Kamilla Rakhimova, and her first at WTA 1000-level.
Bucsa reached her career-high doubles ranking of No 38 last week, and now rises 12 spots to No 27 on Monday.
Sorribes Tormo won her 5th career WTA doubles title, and her first of the year, while she also reaches a career-high doubles ranking, rising from 26 to No 17 in what is her Top 20 doubles debut.
This is also Sorribes Tormo’s 2nd doubles title at WTA 1000-level, having previously won WTA 1000 Beijing last autumn alongside Bouzkova.
