GUADALAJARA OPEN NEWS & NOTES
*This will be just the 4th run of this tournament in Guadalajara as a relatively new spot on the calendar. Last year, (3)Danilina-Khromacheva won the titles as firm 1.44 (-227) favorites. They defeated (4)Kalishnikova-Rakhimova 2-6, 7-5, 10-7. All three runs of this tournament so far have featured a super tie break finish in the championship match.
*Overall, there were six super tie breaks needed out of the 15 matches completed in 2024. Most of those (4) came in round one. The other two years in 2022 and 2023 featured a larger field, 32 pairs versus the current format with 16. So for our statistical purposes, we’ll skip the early rounds when mentioning STBs since there were a lot more matches. Until last year, the quarterfinals had hit for multiple STBs. The semifinals are on a two year streak of NOT producing any super tie breaks.
*Underdogs hit well last year with five in all and three of those coming at 3.00 (+200) or better. Two came in round one and the other came in the quarterfinals. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, only one of those involved a seeded pair losing. If you’re looking a spot to find those juicy dogs, check out the quarterfinals. In the three years that Guadalajara has hosted this tournament, each year has produced one quarterfinal dog hitting at 3.00 (+200) or higher. The underdog pair in the finals has won just once in three tries.
*Seeds split their opening matches in 2024 with the top two seeded pairs losing in round one. The underdog wins rated at 2.27 (+127) and 3.00 (+200). The two years with the expanded fields, four of the eight seeds lost in 2023 and none went out early in 2022. It should be noted the 2022 version was held in late October, so it was not close to the finish of the U.S. Open. Both 2023 and 2024 came in September with last year running in the same spot as the 2025 version.
*There will be no repeat champion with Danilina-Khromacheva not playing this year. However, Khromacheva is here with Melichar-Martinez as her partner for the week. She joins Storm Hunter as the only other player in this year’s field to have won the titles in Guadalajara. Hunter has won twice in 2022 with Stefani and 2023 with Mertens. This year, she’s in with Krawczyk and they’ll battle top seeds Khromacheva/Melichar-Martinez in round one. The field as a whole features a lot of names you may not be familiar with, so that’s my job in the preview. Two of the four seeded pairs are teaming up for the first time this week.
THE UNSEEDED MENACES
It may be a bit harder to find true contenders in this field, but there are a few that have the experience that could give them some potential. Here are the ones that stick out.
Hunter-Krawczyk
We’ll start with names you know as these two will be playing their 7th match together. They did not pair for the first time until the grass court swing and they’ve had their share of tough draws. As such, they’re 2-4 overall. Three of their four tournament openers have gone to super tie breaks. They have a shot to cause some problems early perhaps with the top seeds first up for them. Keep in mind however that they have not won back-to-back matches yet.
Kozyreva-Shymanovich
Here is an intriguing pair that won on these courts in the Guadalajara-1 tournament held during the second week of the U.S. Open. It was their 6th title of 2024 with three coming at the ITF level and the other three in smaller WTA tournaments like this one. Clay is their best surface (17-1), but getting match play and wins at this site is a huge plus heading into the week.
Jovic-Shibahara
An interesting first time pairing. Shibahara is the more regular doubles player of the two with a 14-10 record in 2025. Jovic has played only a handful of matches at 3-4, but she did get some good reps in Cincinnati and New York against some solid pairs. It’s all about synergy with these two. Shibahara has won a doubles title this year at the ITF Tokyo stop with Guo and made a final on grass in Nottingham with Danilina. The question for me will be if she can lift up her partner who has far less experience.
ONE AND DONE WATCH
With some one-off pairings for the week in the seeded field and the others having minimal play together, could there be more upsets on tap early? Here are the ones to watch.
(1)Khromacheva/Melichar-Martinez
The top seeds may only need to work past Hunter-Krawczyk to solidify themselves as the team to beat. That’s going to be a tough one to start. Hunter-Krawczyk do have the advantage of playing together, but they’ve also fallen short in quite a few matches so far. The survivor of this one will likely be looked at as a favorite to get into the final.
(3)Kempen-Piter
This is one of the first time pairs, so the questions can start from there as they square off with another first time pair in Fossa Huergo-Kubka. Those two have played plenty of doubles, just not together. Kubka has made five finals this year across the ITF and WTA, plus has some great experience from Billie Jean Cup play. Fossa Huergo has made three finals, all on clay. This one could be close.
DRAW PREVIEW
Click HERE for the women’s draw
TOP HALF
Could one match decide the outcome of this entire half? I don’t want to oversell it, but the opener with (1)Khromacheva/Melichar-Martinez and Hunter-Krawczyk does have that feel to it with this draw. I’ve been a fan of this Hunter-Krawczyk pairing and this kind of draw may be what they actually need to get a bit of a run going. That said, I’d expect the top seeds to be competitive. Those two are too good to have no chance to grow as the match advances. I think a key for Hunter-Krawczyk is setting the tone early by taking that first set. The survivor could see one of the UNSEEDED MENACES with Kozyreva-Shymanovich taking on Niculescu-Osario. Niculescu has struggled on the doubles court this year (4-14), while Osario has mainly played the Grand Slams. She does come in off a good run with Yuan where they won a couple of matches at the US Open. I think it will be competitive, but I’ll stick with Kozyreva-Shymanovich coming in on a roll on these courts from last week.
The second quarter has (3)Kempen-Piter as the seeds. This is a particularly tough section to predict with the first time pair and the others have very minimal experience together. I talked about Fossa Huergo-Kubka going up against the seeds with both of those players having some solid doubles success at different stops this year. I don’t think an upset would be that big of an upset in this draw. The other match opposite of this pits a pair of teams who have exactly two matches of experience together. There is a difference though as Detiuc-Pridankana’s matches are both from 2025. Their opponents, Jacquemot-P.Kudermetova have not paired since 2023. That said, both of Detiuc-Pridankina’s matches have been blow out losses. Oddsmakers still have them as big favorites in this one with both ranked much higher. It makes sense when you look closer with Pridankina winning four ITF titles this year. Detiuc won one on clay early in the year. It’s really a question of whether they can show better play together this week. In a weaker field than they’ve seen in their first two matches, that could be the case.
This half still feels like that Khromacheva-MM versus Hunter-Krawczyk match is going to produce the pair fully capable and maybe expected to get the finals spot in this half. It’s difficult predicting how new partners will fare, so I’ll side with Hunter-Krawczyk. We saw Melichar-Martinez have ALMOST immediate success with Bucsa. That pair won Cleveland, but they also lost their first match together before that tournament. I do think sometimes it can take time. If we’re thinking outsiders, I have to stick in that same quarter with the in-form Kozyreva-Shymanovich. I really think the finalist is going to come out of that quarter one way or another.
My Favorite: Hunter-Krawczyk
My Sleeper: Kozyreva-Shymanovic
BOTTOM HALF
The third quarter is led by 4th seeds Santamaria-Tang. They do have some previous match play together with a 6-5 record this year and 7-6 all-time. They made a final on clay in Parma in May and were a competitive out in their US Open starter, losing in a final set tie break. They go up against Hesse-Maria who haven’t paired since 2021. They did go 4-2 together, but neither has played much this year with just eight matches combined (1-7). I’ll stick with the seeds. The other first rounder pits the Corley sisters against Aney-Gleason. Aney-Gleason have a little experience together and both play doubles regularly, so this should be a good one. The Corleys have multiple ITF titles this season and while they may be over matched against the better pairs when they move up to the WTA main draws, this is the type of draw they can compete well in. I really think that’s a toss up. The seeds look best on paper, but the winner of that all-American battle can’t be discounted on this surface. Santamaria-Tang get the nod from me.
The final quarter sees Olmos-Sutjiadi as the two seeds. Their 2-2 this season with all of those matches coming during the build-up to the US Open. They nearly beat Dabrowski-Routliffe in Cincinnati, so this team looks tough. I don’t think they’ll have a problem in round one. The quarterfinals could be interesting. The other quadrant features one of my UNSEEDED MENACES Jovic-Shibahara battle Smith-Vidmanov. It’s their first match together, so both pairs are on equal footing. You still have to like the talent and experience of Jovic-Shibahara to prevail. That would set up a banger against the seeds. Not quite knowing how the Jovic-Shibahara chemistry will be, I think the seeds look like the more likely semifinalists.
In this week coming straight out of a Grand Slam, levels of motivation certainly can be all over the place. I think when you look at the pairings in this draw across the board though, you’ve got either younger players with some experience who could be looking for a big scalp in Guadalajara or veterans with different partners for the most part. This half has more of the veterans. I favor Olmos-Sutjiadi who have already shown some danger on this surface this Summer.
My Favorite: Olmos-Sutjiaji
My Sleeper: Jovic-Shibahara
CLOSING TIME
You look at this draw and the more you do, the more you question yourself as to maybe who can’t win in Guadalajara this week? I tend to lean towards the veterans having a big of an edge over their less experienced foes. Will this be the week that Hunter-Krawczyk break out? It’s still 50-50 with an opener that looks like it could go either way. I like the OImos-Sutjiadi combo in that half of the draw, so they’ll be a choice. The other one? I am still going to look at Kozyreva-Shymanovich as a dark horse. They’ve played well this year and won titles on these courts last week. Maybe that gives them an edge to an extent. It should be an interesting week in Mexico regardless.
PIG PIX
Olmos-Sutjiadi
Kozyreva-Shymanovich
DOUBLES TOURNAMENT PREVIEWS & PICKS 