Professional doubles celebrated a new milestone for the sport with the staging of the first professional Mixed Doubles draw—with rankings points for both the men’s and women’s professional tours on offer—which was won by doubles stalwarts Suzie Pierrepont & Adam Bews April 1-3 at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles.
The $25,000 draw attracted nine teams to the west coast, and played out according to seeding with the top four seeds advancing to the semifinals.
In the bottom half of the draw, two seeds Latasha Khan & Will Mariani took out three seeds Jordan Brail & Alicia Rodriguez 15-5, 15-13, 15-12. In the top half, top seeds Bews & Pierrepoint endured a four-game challenge from married tandem Lauren West & Chris Longman 13-15, 15-6, 15-10, 15-10.
Bews, world No. 10, and Pierrepont, world No. 7, put in a decisive performance in the final to win the inaugural Professional Doubles title 15-5, 15-11, 15-9.
“We are very proud to be the winners of the first Mixed professional doubles event,” Bews said. “We are lucky enough to have been able to play a lot together and it really helped up through this event. Thanks so much to Gus Cook, the Jonathan Club, the sponsors and members for making this event happen.”
“Rule number one of doubles, pick a good partner,” added Pierrepont.