Sorribes and Bucsa, the first Spaniards to win the doubles in Madrid, are running for the Games: “I hope we are there”

Less than two weeks ago, Sara Sorribes and Cristina Bucsa had never played a doubles match together. This Sunday, just nine days after debuting as a couple, they have lifted their biggest trophy in this modality, the Madrid Masters – a WTA 1000, the second category after the Grand Slam -, for which they registered 15 minutes before the deadline will close. “It’s the truth. I was signed up with Marie [Bouzkova, su compañera habitual], that he was not well and they were doing tests on him. Suddenly, he called me and told me that he couldn’t play,” says Sorribes, 27 years old and number 27 in the ranking of double players. The woman from Castellón then went to the gym, where she ran into Ivan Bucsa, the Cantabrian’s father and coach – 26 years old, 39th – by chance. “I asked him if they wanted to play and he said, ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ and we went to the office. They told us we had 15 minutes to call Marie and Cristina, and one was deleted [del torneo] and the other signed,” he remembers. From there, five matches in the Masters and five victories to become the first Spaniards to win the tournament – Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez lost the two finals (2014 and 2015) that they played together – and, incidentally, to apply as the Spain’s couple for the Olympic Games this summer.

“There is still time for Paris, but I hope we are lucky and can be there,” says Sorribes, who already participated in the Tokyo Games in the singles category. There she achieved in 2021 – they were played a year late due to the coronavirus pandemic – one of the biggest victories of her career: she defeated the then world number one, Ashleigh Barty, in the first round of the tournament, where she fell in the third step. This week, before this afternoon’s victory against the Czech Barbora Krejcikova and the German Laura Siegemund (6-0, 6-2, 1h 15m), the Castellón native had said that going to the Olympic village this summer is her big goal . “The Games are something I want so much that it is a taboo subject. In singles, in doubles, whatever… I get goosebumps thinking about it and that does take away my energy,” she admitted.

The connection between Bucsa and Sorribes was instantaneous. On the way to the final they eliminated Haddad Maia and Gamarra Martins, Chan and Kudermetova, Wang and Zheng and Pavlyuchenkova and Potapova. “It’s a machine. He looks like Rafa Nadal on the court! I feel very comfortable with her. She is a very solid baseline player and she gives me many options to move well on the net as well,” the Cantabrian said just a few days ago about her partner.

This afternoon the Spanish couple passed over some rivals who were the big favorites to win the title. Krejcikova became number one when she shared the court with Katerina Siniakova—they broke up last year. Together they won 18 titles, including seven Grand Slams (two Australian Opens, two Wimbledons, two Roland Garros and one US Open) and one Olympic gold. Siegemund (6th in the world, once 4th) has won 14 trophies as a doubles player, including the 2020 US Open and last year’s WTA Finals.

In the next tournament, at the Foro Italico in Rome, Sorribes will not compete in doubles, but Bucsa will compete with another couple. On the Manolo Santana court, as soon as she won the first WTA 1000 in Madrid this afternoon – her third title as a doubles player and the Castellón’s fifth – the Cantabrian confessed in front of a half-empty stadium that she hopes to play more times with her new partner. “I’m sure there will be many more triumphs to come,” he says. Bucsa, who was born in Chisinau (Moldova) but emigrated with his parents to Torrelavega when he was three years old, has never been to a Games until now, but with the victory in Madrid he has firmly presented his candidacy for the doubles in Paris: “Always I trust that great things can be achieved and I have complete confidence that if [Sara y yo] “We are healthy, we can make a great team for the Olympic Games.”

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