Istanbul, Turkey, 14 September 2020 | Leigh Rogers

The winning run of Australian duo Ellen Perez and Storm Sanders has ended in the Istanbul final.

Top seeds Alexa Guarachi of Chile and American Desirae Krawczyk scored a 6-1 6-3 victory in the championship match overnight.

This still marks a best WTA-level result for Perez and Sanders as a team.

“It’s great to be back playing, we’re incredibly grateful,” the 26-year-old Sanders said, thanking tournament organisers.

“We felt completely safe and really enjoyed playing here, so thank you for providing us jobs and the opportunity to compete on the tour again.”

"It’s great to be back playing, we’re incredibly grateful. We’ve felt completely safe here and we’ve really enjoyed playing here."

Super week, @EllenPerez95 @stormsanders94!#tennischampistanbul pic.twitter.com/rhSeJcNUNY

— wta (@WTA) September 13, 2020

Perez and Sanders will now travel to Rome, where they are scheduled to face Czech Lucie Hradecka and Slovenia’s Andreja Klepac in the opening round.

Rome, Italy

It was a tough day for Aussies in Rome, with Alexei Popyrin, Marc Polmans and James Duckworth all beaten in the second round of qualifying at the Rome Masters.

Top-seeded American Tennys Sandgren scored a 6-7(6) 6-4 6-2 win against Popyrin, while 11th-seeded Swede Mikael Ymer defeated Polmans 6-4 6-4. Argentine Facundo Bagnis recorded a 7-6(4) 6-1 win over Duckworth.

Ajla Tomljanovic is the sole Australian on tomorrow’s schedule. The 27-year-old faces Czech Marie Bouzkova in the opening round. Tomljanovic won their only previous meeting, in the US Open 2019 first round, in three sets.