Form fluctuates in the doubles competition at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, with No. 6 seed Hsieh Su-Wei & Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia moving a step closer to the semi-finals by beating top-seeded Italian duo Sara Errani & Jasmine Paolini 6-3 6-4 on Monday afternoon and then clinching the last 4 spot as Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova & Elise Mertens of Belgium defeated American Asia Muhammad & Schuurs from the Netherlands, 6-4 6-7(6) [10-6]to keep their hopes alive of a second Martina Navratilova trophy.
I know we always have our backs. So I wasn’t worried when we got down there, and there were so many deuces, and we didn’t take some. We have our backs. Hsieh Su Wei
Hsieh & Ostapenko started their first match slowly, trailing Kudermetova & Mertens 6-1, 4-2 before pulling off a comeback win, but they didn’t make the same mistake against Errani & Paolini.
The Australian Open and Wimbledon finalists were in top form from the start, opening the match with a Hsieh return winner and one of her trademark impossible angles that came out of nowhere.
It set the tone as they raced through the first eight points en route to a 3-0 lead, with Ostapenko also keeping her level high, firing several risky driving volleys from behind the service line and even using the slice on several occasions to set up powerful winning groundstrokes.
Errani and Paolini were unusually flat, especially the younger Italian who suffered from health problems and lacked her usual polish.
They rarely played with their usual effervescence, and throughout the first set they were repeatedly outmaneuvered on the forecourt by both their opponents.
In the second set, Errani began to find his way to the net, and the Italians were helped by Ostapenko who twice failed to put away attempted return winners at decisive points, but in the final game of the encounter it was the Latvian who took the opportunity.
From 40-15, Ostapenko found a winning backhand volley and then a brilliant angular return to bring up match point, which was duly converted when Hsieh put away another angular volley.
The result was a reversal of Hsieh & Ostapenko’s 6-4 6-0 defeat by Errani & Paolini in the Beijing semi-finals a short month ago.
“I feel like Su-Wei played very well today,” Ostapenko said in their on-field interview. “I was so-so, but it was okay. It was a tough match, they are great players. We felt like we had to play very aggressively all the time to keep the pressure on them. There were so many games that we lost at deuce, but we tried to stay calm and stay positive.”
If Ostapenko had shown her frustration at the missed decisive points, Hsieh was able to shake them off because of their team spirit.
“I know we always have our backs,” Hsieh said. “So I wasn’t worried when we were down, and there were so many deuces, and we didn’t take some. We have our backs.”
© Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for WTA
On Saturday, fourth seeds Kudermetova & Mertens won their opening set before dropping the second, losing in a tiebreak to Hsieh & Ostapenko, and it looked like history would repeat itself on Monday night, when they needed just one break point to claim a tightly contested opener, only to lose the next in a tiebreak.
This time, however, the 2022 WTA Finals champions regrouped and crossed the finish line, passing Muhammad & Schuurs in the match tiebreak after a royal 2-hour scrap, and keeping their hopes alive of making it to the semi-finals.
“In the end it was teamwork,” Mertens said after the match. “From the beginning to the end, actually. All credit to our opponents who kept it real, especially in the second set and in the tiebreak. But yes, we are very happy with the victory.”
After six straight breaks to open the match, Kudermetova & Mertens broke for a 4-3 lead and served for the set to advance.
The second proved an even trickier affair, and far from easy, as breaks were exchanged, highlights were achieved with almost every point and, for one stretch, four consecutive matches with decisive points.
The result was a second set breaker, with Kudermetova & Mertens holding a match point at 6-5, before losing the next 3 points and the set.
However, the Wimbledon champions struck first in the match tiebreak, building a 7/5 lead and sealing victory a few points later with a backhand winner from Kudermetova to end Day 3 of the WTA Finals.
The win sets up a winner-take-all match against Errani & Paolini on Wednesday, with a place in the semi-finals at stake.
The teams have met three times this season, with Errani and Paolini winning twice, including back-to-back wins in the Rome final and Roland Garros quarter-finals.
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