INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA - When two accomplished doubles players form a new team, it isn't always a surefire success. But at Indian Wells, two of the greenest tandems in the game have really struck gold, with Kveta Peschke, Katarina Srebotnik, Nadia Petrova and Sam Stosur all reaching the final.
Peschke and Srebotnik, unseeded and playing their fifth career tournament together, beat Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie in a match tie-break Thursday, 16 63 104, to reach the final. They haven't faced a seeded team en route to the final, but they have taken out some very strong unseeded teams, including Maria Kirilenko and Agnieszka Radwanska, who ousted No.4 seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs in the first round, and Chan and Zheng, who bested No.1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the quarterfinals.
Petrova and Stosur, seeded No.3 and playing their third career tournament together, beat No.6 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yan Zi to reach the final, 63 62. Mattek-Sands and Yan had beaten No.2 seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez in the quarterfinals.
Combined, the four players in the doubles final have 75 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles titles between them (Peschke 14, Srebotnik 21, Petrova 18, Stosur 22). The only player of the four to have triumphed here at Indian Wells before is Stosur, who won in 2006 and 2007 (with Raymond).
Check out the latest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles rankings here!
