GSTAAD, Switzerland – They may have never played together before - but Alexa Guarachi and Desirae Krawczyk won the doubles competition in style at the Ladies' Championship Gstaad, beating Spain's Lara Arruabarrena and Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky in the final, 4-6, 6-4, 10-6.
"Switzerland is amazing - it's my first time here, it's been a great tournament, and to have my first WTA win and my first WTA title is just amazing," said Guarachi afterwards.
"It's our first time playing together," added Krawczyk.
"I think we were aggressive and took a lot of risks. We complemented each other really well. Hopefully she'll play with me again!"
Both were college standouts: during her time at Alabama, Guarachi earned multiple All-America and All-SEC (Southeastern) honors, ending her career at the Capstone with 109 victories in singles, the most ever recorded by a player in Alabama history; and Krawczyk competed for Arizona State.
"We're great friends off the court, so we had that chemistry and we were able to talk through things. I think in college you definitely learn about doubles, so we were able to switch things up when they weren't working," said Guarachi.
"I think college definitely helps," agreed Krawczyk. "[The win is] good for college tennis - you can go, learn, there are great coaches there, and then you can come and play the pro tour after."
