2011 Australian Open: Flavia Pennetta and Gisela Dulko lift doubles crown
Winners of seven doubles titles in 2010, including the doubles title at the Year’s End Championships, the Italian-Argentinean duo of Flavia Pennetta and Gisela Dulko added
another feather to their cap on Day 12 at Melbourne Park when they defeated the pair of Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko to clinch their first Grand Slam doubles title.
The pair debuted at the Australian Open together last year. Seeded thirteenth in the event, Pennetta and Dulko had made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing
to the Aussie American duo of Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs.
The pair started their second run at the event playing Sania Mirza and Renata Voracova. Losing the most games in their run against them, Pennetta and Dulko moved ahead into
the event. Playing Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova in the quarterfinals, Pennetta and Dulko coupled a bagel set win with a 6-3 victory to move into the semis. Playing the Italian-Argentinean duo in the semi-final was the third seeded team of Liezel
Huber and Nadia Petrova. After a hard fought battle, Pennetta and Dulko were finally able to clinch a 6-4, 7-5 victory to set up a final clash with the debutant team of Azarenka and Kirilenko.
For a team playing their first Grand Slam final, Azarenka and Kirilenko gave the eventual champions quite a fright securing a 1-0 lead in the set score.
Leading the first set 3-2, the Russian-Belarusian duo broke Pennetta’s serve to clinch a 4-2 lead which they extended to 6-2 in the next two games to go one up in the set
score. The runners up maintained their form into the second set taking an early 4-1 lead. However, fighting back to stay in the game, Pennetta and Dulko revived their 2010 form to level the score at 4-4 before eventually levelling the set score 1-1 with a
7-5 victory in the second set.
Each team was now only a set away from their maiden title win at a Grand Slam event. Serving first in the decider, Kirilenko managed to win a game for her team however;
this was as far as the eventual Champions would allow them to go. Breaking service thrice, Pennetta and Dulko won the next six games to secure a breadstick win for themselves.
Commenting on their comeback, Dulko said, "We were in shock. At a set and 4-1 down, at the changeover, we were looking at each other saying, 'Come on, we have played less
than an hour.' We went for it. We tried to play more aggressively and didn't wait for them to."
Chiming in, Pennetta added, "Gisela played an unbelievable three games from 4-1 down. Everything started to change. When you're down, you don't have anything to lose, so
you just keep going. For the other team it was tough - when you have a ball for 62 51 then you go to a third set, it's tough to come back in the game. "In the third set we played really well, really aggressively. We were doing our job and playing our game.
So that's why we're here now."
Seeded first in the absence of defending champions, the Williams sisters; Pennetta and Dulko made their way to the finals without dropping a single set, losing only twenty
nine games in ten matches.
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