The road to the Mutua Madrid Open doubles titles has reached the final stretch and only two pairs remain in the running for the trophy. Saturday’s final will bring together the two most in-form duos on the tour; one personifying experience and power, the other youth and a desire to keep reaching for the top. The dream final and a perfect match-up.

Early on Friday Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic beat Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-3. Shortly afterwards world number one pairing Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza accepted the challenge and booked their place in the final, the favourites for the title seeing off Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2, 6-0.

In the second game of the day on the Manolo Santana Stadium, the Caja Mágica will play host to one of the best possible finals to bring the WTA doubles to a close. Although Hingis and Mirza are the top seeds, it is worth noting that the French duo emerged victorious when the pairs met in the final in Stuttgart a week ago.
Men’s semi-finals set

Opening the day’s play on the Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario show court on Friday was the first quarter-final of the men’s doubles. Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau claimed a narrow victory over Alexander Peya and Nenad Zimonjic, prevailing 7-6, 7-6 to earn a place in Saturday’s semi-finals, which will take place in the same arena.

The challenge facing Rojer and Tecau is a considerable one: they will play Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who have won the last three Masters tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo. The French pair, as well as being the top seeds, got the better of multiple Grand Slam-winning brothers Bob and Mike Bryan in another tight match ending 3-6, 7-6, 10-8.

Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo needed just 59 minutes to defeat Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock — who played back-to-back singles and doubles on Thursday evening — 6-3, 6-4. The fourth seeds will play Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea, seeded sixth, for a place in the final.