Siniakova and Townsend complete quest for Sunshine Double with Miami title

By winning the Miami Open title Sunday evening, Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend became the sixth woman’s doubles team to complete the Sunshine Double -- doing so just one day after Aryna Sabalenka achieved the feat in singles.

“It’s been a really long month, but so successful for both of us,” Townsend said during the trophy presentation. “It’s really exciting. Everyone was trying to put it on us about the Sunshine Double. Well, we did it.”

Their 7-6 (0), 6-1 victory over Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in 1 hour and 19 minutes capped a dominant run in Miami on the heels of their title in Indian Wells, allowing them to join the following teams in the history books:

• Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova (1990)
• Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs (2002)
• Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur (2006, 2007)
• Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza (2015)
• Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka (2019)

Nathasa Zvereva (1997), Hingis (1999) and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (2016) also won both tournaments in the same year, but with different partners.

This year’s championship match began on Stadium, but with Errani and Paolini serving down 5-4 in the first set, a brief shower turned into a nearly three-hour rain delay. With the ATP singles final approaching, the match was moved to Grandstand to finish.

When play resumed, the Italians won the first point back to hold at love and force a first-set tiebreak, but Siniakova and Townsend won all seven points to take the opener in 54 minutes -- give or take three hours.

That set the stage for a second set in which Siniakova and Townsend completely took control against Errani and Paolini, whom they also beat in the semifinals en route to the Indian Wells title.

The Italians saved two break points in the opening game to hold for 1-0, but Siniakova and Townsend won six straight games -- dropping just six points in the process -- to capture the trophy. They finished in style, too, as Siniakova’s backhand clipped the line on championship point.

During the trophy presentation, Siniakova expressed her gratitude for Townsend.

“Thank you so much for playing,” Siniakova said. “It’s a pleasure to kind of (get to know) you more. So thank you for playing with me and making it fun. I’m really enjoying this time with you.”

Believe it or not, it’s the first Miami Open title of Siniakova’s illustrious career. She reached the final in 2018, but she and Barbora Krejcikova lost to Ashleigh Barty and Coco Vandeweghe. It’s the 35th doubles title of her career and her third this season. Her résumé includes 10 Grand Slams doubles titles, an 11th in mixed doubles, two Olympic gold medals, a WTA Finals and eight WTA 1000 titles.

Ditto for Townsend, who joins her fellow former World No. 1 in claiming her first Miami champion’s trophy. Like her partner, she had previously reached the final, falling to Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula with Leylah Fernandez as her partner. The two-time Grand Slam champion and seven-time finalist across doubles and mixed doubles now owns 14 WTA doubles titles and four WTA 1000 trophies.

With their latest triumph, the pair strengthened their early season push toward another WTA Finals berth. As the tour transitions to clay, Siniakova and Townsend are projected to rise to No. 3 in the Race to Riyadh. Townsend is also set to return to the Top 5 of the PIF WTA Doubles Rankings.

Errani and Paolini also made gains of their own with a semifinal showing in Indian Wells and a runner-up finish in Miami. They are projected to climb to No. 3 in the rankings and No. 6 in the race on Monday.

The Italian duo will now turn its attention to defending titles in Rome and at the French Open during the clay swing.