WASHINGTON, DC NEWS & NOTES
*Top seeds Muhammad-Townsend were crowned champions in 2024, making it two of the last three years that the #1 seeds in DC wound up winning the titles. The champs got the benefit of a pair of walkover wins en route to the title, meaning they won their opener and their next match was the championship. They were huge favorites in the final at 1.34 (-294) when they topped unseeded pair Jiang-Wu 7-6, 6-3. It continued a HUGE trend in DC for the ladies. The final has ended in two sets in eleven of the 12 years that the tournament has been held.
*If you’re hunting out super tie breaks, certainly the final is NOT that place. The semifinals have also been a waste land for STBs with none since 2018. Round one looks like a focal point based on recent history. All four of the STBs in 2024 came in the opening round. In 2023, there were five super tie break finishes. Again, three came in round one with the other two in the quarterfinals. 2022 was the best in recent time for STBs with seven of the 15 matches needing the extra frame. Three round one matches and three quarterfinals highlighted that set.
*Underdog wins were scarce in 2024. There were just two out of the 13 completed matches. Neither one was higher than 2.16 (+116), so a very modest set of dog wins. 2023 saw a few more with four dogs biting out of 13 matches. The two largest came at 2.62 (+162) and 2.68 (+168). If you’re looking for a place where these have been more prevalent, check out the semifinals. Three of the last four runs of the Citi Open have seen one of the semifinals yield an underdog winner.
*Seeds have not gotten away clean in round one each of the last two years, but they have been fairly sturdy nonetheless. Only two seeds out of the last 12 have lost their openers in Washington. Unseeded pairs have still made a habit of slipping into the semifinal mix with ten of the 12 all-time runs of this tournament seeing at least one unseeded duo in the final four. There have also been two unseeded champions in the last four runs with at least one unseeded semifinalist in three of those years as well.
*Much like the men’s draw, the women hit the North American hard court swing with a lot of mish-mash pairs in DC. That is seen right away in the seeded field. The top seeds are Muhammad-Routliffe, who debuted in their one and only tournament together last Summer in Cincinnati. That result? A perfect 4-0 run to the titles. The second seeds are first timers in Townsend-Zhang. The seeded field also includes a third part of the 2024 final in Jiang as she teams up with Chan Hao-Ching for the first time. The final seed is the only regular pair in (4)Mihalikova-Nicholls. They made their debut in DC last Summer, losing their opener. They arrive this week having dropped their opener in three of their last four tournaments overall. I’ll hit more on the unseeded one-offs that include some higher profile singles names in the section below.
THE UNSEEDED MENACES
Unseeded pairs have had success making deep runs in DC as evidenced by last year’s Jiang-Wu spot in the final and Siegemund-Zvonareva winning the titles in 2023. Let’s take a look at the unseeded teams that look like potential contenders this time around at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
Joint-Perez
The first time all-Aussie duo is one of the most interesting pairs in the draw for me. Perez has made a habit in 2025 of being adaptable with Joint becoming her 10th partner of the season. Ellen has made the semifinals or better of a tournament with six of those partners. Joint is no slouch on the doubles court at age 19 with a stout 17-6 record this year. She’s won two titles in 2025 and made two others. This team has a chance to be special if the chemistry comes out. They could be an intriguing speed bump in the path of the top seeds in the quarterfinals.
Dolehide-Kenin
The Americans look a potential spoiler as an unseeded pair after making the Wimbledon quarterfinals in just their second tournament together this season. They’re in a quarter with Chan-Jiang that looks fairly open to anyone, so the Americans could emerge as a semifinal contender or better.
Bucsa/Melichar-Martinez
Bucsa has had little success with her more regular partner of 2025 in Kato outside of a stunning Miami finals appearance, but has shown some spark when pairing up outside of that partnership. She won the Birmingham titles on grass with Alava and Bogota on clay with Sorribes Tormo. Melichar-Martinez has become more well versed in partner swapping as the year has gone by with Bucsa becoming her 7th parner of the season. She’s been to a pair of finals this year with different partners, so she too is very adaptable. Drawing Townsend-Zhang in round one isn’t ideal, but with both those pairs learning each other on-the-fly, they could wind up being a surprise if they spring that opening upset.
ONE AND DONE WATCH
With the seeded field seeing a lot of new pairings, there certainly seems room for some opening upsets. Let’s take a look at the matchups that could produce an early surprise.
(2)Townsend-Zhang
This partnership could well win the tournament, they’re both that good. As usual though, I think the best time to get fresh pairings is first-up. That’s what Bucsa/Melichar-Martinez get and vice versa. This one is going to be all about adaptability and which pair finds that comfort level the best with their new partners for the week. That does lend itself to some upset potential in this one for me.
(4)Mihalikova-Nicholls
These two regulars have two titles to their credit in 2025, but have also gone one and done in ten tournaments. They draw Raducanu-Rybakina to start. The two singles stars are not known much for doubles with Emma having only played three career doubles matches, while Rybakina is playing doubles for just the third time since 2023. Rybakina does have some success on the doubles court in her career with a few big finals, Indian Wells 2021 ranking as the best with Kudermetova. I feel like this combo is either going to be absolutely miscast and struggle or they’ll come out and pull off the win right away. Given Mihalikova-Nicholls’ propensity for losing early at times this year, you never know.
DRAW PREVIEW
Click HERE for the women’s doubles draw
TOP HALF
Muhammad-Routliffe lead the quarter as the top seeds. Their run in Cincinnati last year as a first-time team does enough to alleviate any chemistry concerns. Eikeri-Hozumi are their openers, coming in hot off a shock semifinal appearance at the French Open in their last action together. That looks more like a one-off though as they took advantage of the draw opening up with some upsets. Muhammad-Routliffe will rank right away as one of the top two pairs they’ve had to go up against in 2025. I think the top seeds get it done. The other match sees Aussies Joint-Perez going up against vets Xu-Yang. Most of the Chinese pair’s best career work is on hard courts, so this could be a BANGER ALERT in round one. I do think the duo that moves on can be a thorn in the side of the top seeds in the quarterfinals. I’m still team Aussie though in thinking Joint-Perez can be dark horse contenders for a finals spot in this half.
This second quarter is going to hinge on whether or not Chan-Jiang gel as a pair as the three seeds. That’s why I think you can look at Americans Dolehide-Kenin as an unseeded menace in this section. I do think Chan-Jiang have a good shot to get win number one against Piter-Santamarino in round one. Piter has had an awful time in 2025, going 9-17 with opening losses in eleven of her last 12 tournaments. This is that pair’s first collaboration, so both duos are going to be working out some kinks early. As for Dolehide-Kenin, they get first time team Rakhimova-Voskoboeva. Voskoboeva is playing her first doubles tournament since 2021 at the age of 40, an interesting choice for sure. That should give the Americans a good shot to win and pose a sizeable threat to get through this quarter.
Seed-wise, it’s Muhammad-Routliffe for me. The top seeds proved themselves last year and Routliffe has had experience shuffling partners this year, so I don’t think it’s a problem at this point. I see Joint-Perez and Dolehide-Kenin as the two unseeded pairs with the most upside in this half. I would not be surprised to see one or both in the semifinal mix. Dolehide-Kenin have the better draw simply for not having to go through the top seeds before the semis.
My Favorite: Muhammad-Routliffe
My Sleeper: Dolehide-Kenin
BOTTOM HALF
On paper, you’d think Mihalikova-Nicholls would be favorites to get through this quarter as the seeded pair. The other three pairs in this quarter have either zero experience together or in the case of Kato-Wu, a whopping total of one match together from 2024. Is experience enough though? Mihalikova-Nicholls have been far from consistent with all of those opening round exits, so I’m not sticking their names on the board just yet as the semifinal runners from this section. That Raducanu-Rybakina combo intrigues me in round one against them. Like I stated earlier, I think they’ll either be really bad together or they’ll find a rhythm and be potential sleepers. I’ll keep an eye on Kato-Wu in the other opener as they did at least show some potential in that one match together last year, a super tie break loss to Muhamad-Sutjiadi in Paris. They might be contenders rather than pretends as far as getting out of this quarter as the semifinalists.
The final quarter should start with a bang when (2)Townsend-Zhang battle Bucsa/Melichar-Martinez. There is certainly a chance that one of the two has chemistry and the other none, resulting in a blowout. I tend to think though that it will be more of a roller coaster as the pairs feel each other out. Super tie break anyone? The other match in this quarter will probably be the ONE for sure that you can count on the tournament socials AND media paying attention to with Venus Williams drawing a wild card entry in both singles and doubles this week. We haven’t seen Venus in doubles action since 2022, so her pairing with Hailey Baptiste will draw plenty of eyes. Baptiste has proven a very capable partner, seeing most of her action with Caty McNally in 2025. The wins may not be many, but the competitive scorelines show you that she can ball in doubles. They face pickle baller Eugenie Bouchard and American teen Clervie Ngounoue. She’s made three ITF doubles finals in 2025, so this will be one that is impossible to call. You wouldn’t expect the survivor to get the better of either Townsend-Zhang or Bucsa/Melichar-Martinez … or at least I will not be expecting it.
If Townsend-Zhang have any chemistry, they have the ability to roll through this half. This is just the second tournament in 2025 that Taylor will be playing with someone besides Siniakova. That one-off with Dolehide resulted in a loss, so there is some pressure on her. Zhang on the other hand has been very adaptable in making finals with four different partners this year. I think she can help carry the American through any early potential nerves and have this pair emerge as a real contender for the titles. Towsend should be comfortable on these courts after last year’s title run with Muhammad, so they’re easy favorites in this half. If there is a surprise, I think it would be them losing in round one and that would put Bucsa/Melichar-Martinez squarely into dark horse contender status. The other outside to monitor would be Kato-Wu.
My Favorite: Townsend-Zhang
My Sleeper: Bucsa/Melichar-Martinez
CLOSING TIME
Even though there is a shortage of experience with the top two seeds, I would not be surprised in the least to see Muhammad-Routliffe and Townsend-Zhang squaring off in the final. It might be a nice bit of kismet to see last year’s champions going head-to-head for a shot at the 2025 crowns in Muhammad and Townsend. That said, there is definitely room for a surprise finalist instead. I think the top half has more quality amongst the unseeded field, but they also have to go through Muhammad-Routliffe. I’m still looking at Dolehide-Kenin and Joint-Perez though as ones who could get it done. All in all, this should be a great kick off to the North American hard court swing for the women. Enjoy the show.
PIG PIX
Townsend-Zhang
Dolehide-Kenin
DOUBLES TOURNAMENT PREVIEWS & PICKS 