Top 2 Seeds Into Doha Doubles Final
Published Feburary 25, 2011 12:00
DOHA, Qatar - Two of the world's very best doubles teams will square off in the Qatar Ladies Open final on Sunday after battling past their semifinal foes.
Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova, the No.2 seeds, were the first to move on, beating No.3 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie, 46 62 106. Chan and Zheng burst out to a 5-1 first set lead but it was then that Huber and Petrova found their range, catching up to 5-4 and, even though they lost that first set, cruising through the rest of the match to secure the first spot in the final.
Huber and Petrova will be going for their second WTA title as a team, having won in Charleston last year. Huber is also coming off her first title of the year in Dubai last week, partnering Spain's María José Martínez Sánchez.
"I'm glad I'm in the finals tomorrow," Huber said. "I've put a lot of emphasis on these two tournaments, Dubai and Doha, and I'm glad it has worked out! I'm just happy to be playing in the finals here. I'm just enjoying the moment!"
Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, seeded No.1, scored a 61 36 119 win over No.4 seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Anastasia Rodionova. Peschke and Srebotnik missed three match points leading 9-6 in the match tie-break but eventually closed it out and moved into their fourth final of the season, having won in Auckland and finished runners-up in Sydney and Dubai.
"So far this year Kveta and I have been very consistent with our results, as we always made it to the final of WTA tournaments and in Melbourne we made the semis," Srebotnik said. "This is all very good for our confidence. Tomorrow we have another chance to take our second title this year and we'll do our best.
"It will be a nice match - the Top 2 seeded teams are in the final."
"They are a great team and have good results every week," Huber added.
The two teams will be playing each other for the first time.
