Flavia & Gisela Snap Liezel & Lisa's Win Streak
Published October 07, 2011 06:04
BEIJING, China - No.1 seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik will square off with No.3 seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta for the China Open title on Saturday in a match-up featuring four of the players who have held the No.1 doubles ranking this year.
Peschke and Srebotnik, who seized the top spot from Pennetta after winning Wimbledon, got their first win in three tries on Friday over Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, 64 64. They previously lost to them in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon last year and in the semifinals of Rome this year, but this time broke Shvedova's serve at 5-4 in each set en route to victory.
In their semifinal, Dulko and Pennetta ended the 12-match winning streak of Liezel Huber - the current doubles No.1 - and Lisa Raymond, 64 62. They broke Raymond's serve at 4-4 in the first set and Huber's serve at 2-2 in the second, not losing another game the rest of the way. It was also their first win in three tries in the series, having previously lost to the Americans in match tie-breaks in the semifinals of Toronto in August and in the final of Tokyo last week. Dulko and Pennetta had not been to a final since winning the Australian Open in January, but now are into one for the second consecutive week.
"Happy to win our doubles today," Dulko tweeted. "Always tough to play Liezel and Lisa. They are great players. Looking forward to the finals tomorrow!"
Friday was especially memorable for Pennetta, in that she also defeated the singles No.1 - Caroline Wozniacki - in quarterfinal singles action.
Dulko and Pennetta are 4-0 against Peschke and Srebotnik, with three of those wins coming in finals, including at last year's WTA Championships. They are 1-1 in finals this year and 11-5 all-time, while Peschke and Srebotnik are 5-3 this year and 7-10 all-time.
