Siniakova and Zhang pick up where they left off to win Toronto

They don't play together often, but when they do, Zhang Shuai and Katerina Siniakova are usually leaving the court as winners.

Two of the most decorated doubles players on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz individually snagged their third career title as a team -- and first at WTA 1000 level -- with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Sara Errani and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in Thursday's final at the National Bank Open.

Siniakova and Zhang are now 3-0 in finals as a pair, also triumphing in Guangzhou in 2024 and Adelaide earlier this year. That was the last time they teamed up on the same side before they teamed in Toronto, where they stormed to the trophy without the loss of a set. As the top seeds, they dropped just 28 games in five rounds.

"[I'm] aways play so happy with Kate," Zhang said afterwards. "We always not only enjoy the match play, but every each day we practice together, we can see we both improve every day, just little by little. Yeah, that's the biggest key."

"I think we showed that we really played our tennis," Siniakova said. "We were really aggressive. We felt maybe not every time the greatest, but we felt really good on the court. ... I just felt like we were doing the right things, and it really suits the game. So I'm really happy that we could win the title like this."

Siniakova and Zhang's run of victories included a win against at least one Grand Slam champion in each of the first three rounds: an opening victory against Sorana Cirstea and Mirra Andreeva, a 6-0, 6-4 second-round romp against Coco Gauff and Caty McNally, and a quarterfinal win against Storm Hunter and Desirate Krawczyk.

"We played many great players," Zhang said. "I don't know how many Grand Slam champions, singles, doubles, mixed, this week. Yeah, some good singles players, some doubles players.

"That's the big challenge for us, because every match we have to adjust to not the same thing. So we did a really great job. One day we play like this, and one day we play like that. So we play really, really good week."

Siniakova is now 6-0 in finals this year, having also won five titles with Taylor Townsend, while Zhang is 3-1 with three different partners. She won the Australian Open with Elise Mertens, and the Upper Austria Ladies Linz with Cirstea. It was a full-circle performance for the Chinese player, too, as she was runner-up in Montreal last year alongside Townsend.