QUEEN’S CLUB NEWS & NOTES
*This marks the second year for the WTA to stop at Queen’s Club in London after a 50-year absence. Last year, Muhammad-Schuurs won the titles as the fourth seed over two seeds Danilina-Shnaider 7-5, 6-7(3), 10-4. Muhammad-Schuurs were 2.17 (+117) underdogs in the final. That was just the fourth underdog winnner at Queen’s Club last year out of 15 matches.
*The other underdog winners all came in round one. None involved a seeded pair as all four seeds successfully navigated the opening round. The dog prices that won were at 2.32 (+132), 2.36 (+136) and 2.74 (+173). Two of those wins involved super tie break finishes. There were four STB finishes in 2025 in London with the two in round one, one in the semifinals and then the final going the distance as well.
*Seeds ran the show last year with all four making the semifinals. In fact, none of the seeds dropped a set through the first two rounds. This year’s seeded field is led by two-time French Open runners-up Danilina-Krunic. The pair did not play together during the grass season in 2025, but are enjoying a tremendous 2026 at 23-7 overall. Dabrowski-Stefani step in as the two seeds with Melichar-Martinez teaming up with Routliffe for the first time. They’ll be seeded third. Hunter-Zhang round out the seeds with their first pairing together since 2022.
*Other notable regular or semi-regular pairings in this year’s field include: Mihalikova-Nicholls, Guo-Mladenovic, Kichenok-Krawczyk and one of the undersung pairs from the clay swing with Eikeri-Gleason. It’s interesting to note that the 2025 HSBC Championships saw three of its four semifinalists being pairs that were teaming up for the first time. So do regular reps and chemistry even matter? It still never hurts.
Despite last year’s seeded dominance, I think it makes a lot of sense to look to the unseeded field for potential contenders. Let’s start with the first time pairings who could continue last year’s run for first timers.
Williams-Mboko
Okay, I’ll be part of the sheeple and start with the return of Serena Williams. It’s going to be a noisy focal point for the media this week whether that’s fair or not. The key question is obviously what sort of tennis is Serena going to present after nearly four years away from the game? She hadn’t played a lot of doubles before her “retirement’,” but has a ridiculous 52-3 record as a pro on grass. The majority of that came over a decade ago, but six Wimbledon championships with Venus and a Gold medal on grass to boot? You can’t overlook that kind of history. Of equal importance, how will Mboko feel with the brightest of spotlights on this duo? She does have Billie Jean King Cup big match experience and has played to a 4-4 doubles record this season. She’s not unprepared, but yet can you truly be prepared for the media circus coming this week?
Mihalikova-Nicholls
They crashed out in round one here last year, but they won the titles in Berlin after that and also made the Hertogenbosch final in 2024. They’re still so difficult to predict week-to-week, but this surface obviously suits them to some extent. They’re an intriguing unseeded pair in the Danilina-Krunic quarter.
Guo-Mladenovic
We haven’t seen them on grass yet, but they’ve generally been competitive all year on different surfaces. They won a hard court title in Auckland and come in off a quarterfinal run at the French Open. Guo won the doubles titles last year in Bad Homburg with Panova, while Mladenovic has racked up numerous deep runs at Wimbledon over the course of her career. With their chemistry being solid, they’re definitely a danger duo this week.
Panova-Schuurs
This is a first time pairing, but traditionally, Schuurs has had at least one good grass court run each season. Last year it was here with Muhammad and she has multiple grass court finals on her resume. Panova as I just mentioned above, won Bad Homborg last year with Guo, so she can go on grass as well. Being in a quarter where three of the four pairs have never played together should actually help this pair and they just make might some noise.
ONE AND DONE WATCH
Seeds had no issues surviving round one a year ago, but new year, new them. Here’s a look at the match-ups that have some potential to see a seeded upset.
(1)Danilina-Krunic
It’s going to be a quick turnaround from yet another finals’ disappointment for these two and their first time on grass together. Going against Eikeri-Gleason who have good chemistry puts them in a tougher spot in round one. Over the course of the last season and a half, they’ve only lost twice in their openers in 17 tournaments played. They’ll likely get through, but this is probably the spot you want to get them in the draw before they shake off the Paris blues and continue their shred of most of the WTA Tour.
(3)Melichar-Martinez/Routliffe
A really interesting spot for these two. With Bucsa still recovering from an illness, Melichar-Martinez turns to Routliffe for the week. It’s been a tough year for Routliffe since splitting with Dabrowski and it appears her partnership with Asia Muhammad just never took. That’s left her to go the nomad route with MM being her 5th different partner since apparently splitting from Muhammad. Both of these ladies are seasoned on grass and have some good results to their names, so if they gel, they can most definitely be a factor. There’s a matter of getting Serena in her return match though that makes this truly intriguing as you have no idea what the Williams-Mboko pairing will bring nor what the two seeds themselves can do. That leaves this open to an upset.
DRAW PREVIEW
Click HERE for the doubles draw
TOP HALF
If (1)Danilina-Krunic are able to shake off the disappointment of losing in the French Open final, they definitely look like probably semifinalists and maybe more this week. In their two previous finals’ losses in 2026, they’ve need a super tie break to survive their next opener and lost their only opener of the season. Expect the match with Eikeri-Gleason to likely be a tight one. The survivor sees either Mihalikova-Nicholls or Jurak-Rosolska. I will take Mihalikova-Nicholls in that one in spite of how topsy turvy their play can be from week to week and match to match. As I said before, they seem to have at least one good grass court run in them each season. This could be a spot for that, especially if Danilina-Krunic aren’t quite ready to turn the page from Paris.
The second quarter will see (4)Hunter-Zhang starting off against British wildcards Boulter-Radacanu. That pair did split two matches here last year, but generally, both have not done a whole lot in doubles recently. Hunter-Zhang rekindle their partnership from 2022, when they played three tournaments together. They went 4-3 and generally were solid overall. I’d expect them to get through their opener. The match opposite of this pits Guo-Mladenovic against half of last year’s champions with Muhammad pairing with Stollar. It’s their third straight tournament together and in spite of a 1-2 mark, they’ve been very competitive with all three going the distance. I think this will be a real battle. I don’t doubt the survivors here will have a real shot to get to the final four in London. I’ll still side with Guo-Mladenovic being the better shot.
TOP HALF FORECAST
In 2026, you go against Danilina-Krunic at your own peril. Eight tournaments played. Only one ended sooner than the semifinals. That kind of consistency regardless of what happened on Sunday is hard to overlook and I won’t. Storm Hunter has normally been in the hunt in most tournaments played in 2026, but she’s only made two semifinals so far out of ten tournaments played. Zhang similarly has been very good, but perhaps is the good luck charm with four finals this season with four different partners. Care to make it five? There’s some revenge perhaps on her mind too after Guo-Mladenovic rolled Mertens-Zhang at the French Open in round three; 6-2, 6-4. I think the other semifinal spot comes down to one of those two pairs.
SEMIFINAL PIX: (1)Danilina-Krunic vs (4)Hunter-Zhang
BOTTOM HALF
This third quarter should be wild with all three pairings sharing the court with their partner for the first time. Of course the hyper-focus will be on the return of Serena Williams as she teams with Victoria Mboko. There is no way to know what level Serena is going to bring here and it’s equally insane to think she’ll make a big run, just as it is to think she will not. Going against (3)Melichar-Martinez/Routliffe will make for a great test of her level regardless with two solid veterans who won’t be caught up in the spectacle of everything. I tend to think it’s going to take Serena some time to get her in-match timing and obviously fitness (no matter what you think, doubles requires great fitness too) to the point where it’s at an elite level or something close. I’ll take the seeds, but won’t be surprised to see a super tie break either. The other match in this quarter sees Fernandez-Siegemund up against Muhammad-Stollar. I think if paired strictly with another specialist, I’d go Siegemund here. That being said, I prefer Muhammad-Stollar and their slight experience edge. This truly is wide open, so get out your dartboard and pick one.
The final quarter sees the consistent (2)Dabrowski-Stefani leading the charge. They got trucked by Siniakova-Townsed in the French Open semifinals, winning just one game! I do think that’s probably easier to shake off honestly than losing a tight one or getting that same result in a Slam final. They match up against Kato-Samsonova in round one. One thing the seeds have been great at is avoiding early losses. They have only lost one opener in eight tournaments played and I don’t think this will add to that tiny tally. As for the other match in this quarter, the regular Kichenok-Krawczyk are looking for some momentum after a round one exit in Paris. That was their fourth opening loss in their last six tournaments. Does that give Jovic-Kessler some hope? Both have played doubles sparingly, especially Kessler who has just two doubles matches in 2026 (0-2). I still think given the struggles of the “regular” pairing in 2026, an upset is possible. I’m still going Dabrowski-Stefani to continue their consistent play at least in getting to semifinals with six of their eight tournaments this season seeing them get at least to that round.
BOTTOM HALF FORECAST
The third quarter carries much more intrigue with the lack of experience among most of the pairs and of course will have the focus squarely on Serena Williams as long as her run here lasts. I don’t know if that will be all that long. One win would probably be huge for her confidence with another tournament scheduled during her comeback this grass court seasons. I expect Dabrowski-Stefani to be in the mix for a finals spot and I’m going off on my own with Muhammad-Stollar as the other pair to make the last four.
SEMIFINAL PIX: Muhammad-Stollar vs (2)Dabrowski-Stefani
The first grass court tournament of the season always carries some intrigue and we’ve got a few of the top teams on the tour here with Danilina-Krunic and Dabrowski-Stefani currently ranked second and third. With 500 points on the line, it’s a big spot to try and make up the deficit between rankings spots. Do we get the top two seeds in the final this time around? It’s possible, but there’s also plenty that can prevent it. I have a harder time going against Danilina-Krunic because they just have “it” in 2026 at least until they get to finals. In the bottom half, I feel like there could be some shenanigans, but I’d still be surprised to not see Dabrowski-Stefani having a shot. This is one of my favorite times of the season with grass courts always being such a nice esthetic. Enjoy the show!
Danilina-Krunic
Muhammad-Stollar
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