CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Alycia Parks and Taylor Townsend are into the doubles final of the Western & Southern Open and will face No.3 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez for the title on Saturday.
Parks and Townsend stunned No.2 seeds Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals.
Cincinnati: Draws | Schedule | Scores
The American duo are playing in their first tournament together as a team and have enjoyed a seed-slaying route to Championship Saturday. They have defeated three of the Top 5 seeds in the tournament so far, ousting No.5 Kichenok and Ostapenko, No.4 Krawczyk and Schuurs, and No.2 Hunter and Mertens.
Townsend is into her fifth doubles final of the season, having taken the titles in Adelaide 1 (w/ Muhammad) and Adelaide 2 (w/ Stefani) and finishing runner-up with Leylah Fernandez in Miami and Roland Garros.
Parks is playing her second doubles final of the year. She paired with Storm Hunter to finish runner-up at Birmingham in June.
Melichar-Martinez and Perez defeated No.7 seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Giuliana Olmos 2-6, 6-4, [10-5] in the semifinals. Cincinnati is their third final as a team this season and they are bidding for their first team title of the year. They finished runner-up in Eastbourne.
Melichar-Martinez and Perez currently sit at No.7 on the Race to the Finals Leaderboard.
