Safarova Becomes the 35th WTA No.1 in Doubles

There are now two Czech woman atop the WTA rankings—one in singles (Karolina Pliskova) and one in doubles. Lucie Safarova becomes the 35th woman to climb to No.1 in the WTA doubles rankings after reaching the semifinals at Cincinnati with temporary partner Barbora Strycova.Safarova, a five-time major doubles champion with partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands, is now the fourth player representing the Czech Republic to reach No.1 in doubles. She joins Helena Sukova, Jana Novotna and Kveta Peschke.Martina Hingis and Chan Yung-jan (who defeated Safarova and Strycova in the semis) took the doubles title at Cincinnati. It was the new pair’s sixth title of the season. They defeated Monica Niculescu and Hsieh Su-wei in the final, 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.
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Chris Oddo is a freelance sportswriter, podcaster, blogger and social media marker who is a lead contributor to Tennisnow.com. He also writes for USOpen.org, Rolandgarros.com, BNPParibasOpen.com, TennisTV.com, WTAtennis.com and the official US Open program.