No Strycova-Hsieh in Paris (and other RG dubs news)

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ROME – Still a few hours to go before the deadline to enter the Roland Garros women’s doubles.

But one notable omission is that the comebacking duo of Barbora Strycova and Hsieh Su-Wei will not be there.

The popular air returned in Madrid, and played in Rome – losing in a match tiebreak in the first round to Nadiia Kichenok and Kimberley Zimmerman.

But Hsieh is entered with Wang Xinyu of China in Paris. She’s also playing with her this coming week in Strasbourg.

***The comeback of Strycova and Hsieh will not have another chapter in Paris this year.***

A few other notes …

Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are entered in the doubles, and Siniakova is still on the singles list.

But Siniakova hasn’t played since retiring in her first-round match in Miami two months ago, dealing with a wrist injury. So it remains to be seen if they’ll make the date.

There are some significant stakes in this one; the Czech pair are the reigning champions at Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open. Winning Roland Garros (which they did not play a year ago as Krejcikova was returning from injury) would have them holding all four Grand Slam titles at the same time. That’s a big deal.

*Beatriz Haddad Maia and Victoria Azarenka, who won in Madrid (but didn’t finish in Rome as Azarenka withdrew from both singles and doubles), are in the draw again. So are Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend, who withdrew from the Rome doubles because both wanted to play singles during the second week.

***Fernandez and Townsend will pursue their quest for the WTA Finals in Paris.***

*Zhang Shuai, who has withdrawn from a lot of events lately and hasn’t played since Charleston in early April, is on board with struggling Frenchwoman (and former RG doubles champion) Kristina Mladenovic.

*Besties Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova are back together again! Bouzkova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands made a nice run to the semifinals in Rome.

Still remember that 2021 Guadalajara final, when Bouzkova lost a tough one to her friend Sorribes Tormo in the semis – but came out to keep her company for the trophy ceremony after the final, which Sorribes Tormo won over Genie Bouchard.

*Mattek-Sands is entered with Sofia Kenin. (Correction – she was, but in the final list she’s playing with Sara Errani). And Danielle Collins is entered with Emma Navarro, who won the reciprocal USTA wild card in singles.

*Alycia Parks and Peyton Stearns team up in al all-American pairing. This will be a Roland Garros debut for Stearns, who began the year at No. 210 in singles and comes in at No. 72 – directly into the main draw.

*Canadian Rebecca Marino is teaming up with her singles nemesis, Zhu Lin, in one of those fun and unexpected pairings. The only caveat is that Marino has withdrawn from everything she planned to play in the clay-court season leading up to Paris.

The entry cutoff is a combined No. 146 – that’s Nadiia Kichenok and Anna-Lena Friedsam.