MADRID, Spain -- 2nd-seeded Czechs Andrea Sestini Hlavackova and Barbora Strycova squeaked into the Mutua Madrid Open semifinals on Thursday, overcoming No.5 seeds Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States, 6-4, 1-6, 10-6.
The Czech team took a huge lead in the first set, garnering a double-break advantage with a Strycova return winner to break Mattek-Sands and lead 5-2. Sestini Hlavackova dropped serve in the next game to give Chan and Mattek-Sands a fighting chance, but in the next game, a Strycova putaway on deciding point sealed the one-set lead.
It was one-way traffic for Chan and Mattek-Sands in the second set, though, as the Czechs could only win 39 percent of points on their serves at that stage. Chan and Mattek-Sands were 2-for-2 on break points in the second set, and once a Sestini Hlavackova return of a Mattek-Sands serve went long, the teams were headed into the match tiebreak.
The No.2 seeds successfully recovered after the second-set blowout, and claimed four points in a row on their opponents' serves from 3-2, ultimately leading to an 8-3 advantage after a strong Sestini Hlavackova service return forced an error from Chan.
Sestini Hlavackova could not close out the match, dropping both of her service points, but a wide Chan volley at 8-5 gave the Czechs four consecutive match points. On the second match point, Strycova served an ace -- the only ace by either team during the entire encounter.
The Czechs were joined in the semifinals by No.1-seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who won an absolute barnburner over Alicja Rosolska of Poland and Abigail Spears of the United States, 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 10-4.
Following their rain-delayed opening match, the 2016 Olympic champions were made to sweat by the Polish/American duo in a nearly two-hour match where neither team dropped serve. The top seeds saved two break points at 5-5 in the second, preventing Rosolska and Spears from serving for the match. Makarova and Vesnina won 81 percent of their first service points in order to prevail.
Reigning Australian Open champions Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France also moved into the final four, clinching a tight win of their own. The No.3 seeds took down Australia's Ashleigh Barty and American CoCo Vandeweghe, 7-5, 3-6, 11-9, in an hour and 33 minutes.
Finally, there will be a rooting interest for the Spanish crowd in the doubles semifinals, as Barcelona resident María José Martínez Sánchez and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia partnered to win their quarterfinal encounter. The No.7 seeds defeated Johanna Konta of Great Britain and Zhang Shuai of China, 6-4, 6-2.
