Friday, June 3, 2011

Sania-Vesnina lose French Open doubles final

BANGALORE: The Czech combine of -- Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka -- made it a payday to remember in Paris. The unheralded pairing, who became only the sixth unseeded team in 30 years to win a major title when they clinched the French Open women’s doubles crown on Friday, took home the euros 330,000 purse, up for grabs at Roland Garros.


India's Sania Mirza and Russian Elena Vesnina, the seventh seeds, picked the wrong day to go off colour, going down 4-6, 3-6 in the title round. The Indo-Russian pairing, who dropped a set for the first time this fortnight in the semifinal on Wednesday, had to settle for euros 165,000.

The opening set was a sea-saw contest. The Czechs broke Sania's serve in the third game and Vesnina's in the fifth to run up a 5-1 lead. In the seventh game, on the Indian's serve, the Czechs had two set points at 15-40 and a third at advantage, but the Indo-Russian pair battled hard to push the game to deuce before holding serve. They broke Hlavackova at love in the next game to narrow the lead to 3-5. Vesnina then held serve to make it 4-5.

In the tenth game, with the big-hitting Hradecka serving for the set, the Indo-Russian team pushed hard, taking the game to deuce but the Czechs closed out on their fifth set point on the back of a 189 kmph serve.

Vesnina, who finished runners-up in the French Open with Victoria Azarenka in 2009, struggled with her serve on Friday. She was broken in the opening game of the second set, but the seventh seeds fought back breaking Hlavackova in the fourth game to level at 2-2. Vesnina, however, was broken in the fifth game and the Czechs did well to hold on to that.

In the eighth game, the favourites had a chance to break Hlavackova, they even had a breakpoint, but the 24-year-old held out to give her team a 5-3 lead. Hlavackova and Hradecka then broke Vesnina in the ninth game, closing out on the second match point after 81-minutes of play.

toi

No comments: