First team title at stake for Hradecka, Klepac and Schuurs, Groenefeld in Cincy

CINCINNATI, OH, USA - A pair of veteran doubles pairs will face off for the title at the Western & Southern Open on Saturday as both teams seek their first titles together.

No.8 seeds Lucie Hradecka and Andreja Klepac ousted Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova, who made it all the way to the semifinals as wildcards, 7-6(7), 7-5, in the day's first semifinal.

"We played a very tough match today. They serve very well and we had to be focused for every point and wait for the chances," Hradecka said after the match.

"I think we did a great job and are very happy that we are in the final."

The seeded team saved five set points in the first set, as the twins had a pair of set points on return in the 10th game, and also led 6-4 and 7-6 in the tiebreak.

After falling behind a break, Hradecka and Klepac were undaunted as they let a 3-1 lead slip away, before breaking Karolina Pliskova at love to end the match in style.

"It was a tough match and we showed that we are also strong," Klepac added. "We kept the level through the whole match and at the end, we made it."

In the evening session, No.5 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs rallied from a break down three times in each set, saving a set point in the first, to edge Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe in two tiebreaks, 7-6(5), 7-6(4).

Groenefeld and Schuurs are four-time runners-up so far this season, reaching the finals in Doha, Rome, Birmingham and Toronto, while Hradecka and Klepac will contest the first final of their partnership.

Hradecka was runner-up in Dubai with Ekaterina Makarova in February, while Klepac will be appearing in her first final since winning the Mallorca Open with María José Martínez Sánchez last June.

A two-time champion already in Ohio, Hradecka will go for a hat trick of titles. 

"I have just very nice memories here when I won in 2012 with Andrea Hlavackova, and last year, the first tournament after my surgery, when I won with Makarova," Hradecka said.

"I think I cannot be happier than at this tournament, every year when I come back here."