Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka reach the doubles Gold Medal Match – London Olympics 2012
A stunning outcome was witnessed in the semi-final of the doubles draw at the Olympic Games on Friday, as the top seeded American duo of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond crashed out of the tournament. The Americans were ousted by
a stunning performance from the fourth seeded Czech tandem of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in straight sets, 1-6, 6-7(2), to end their voyage at London Olympics this season.
The American pair was rated among the hot favourites for winning the gold medal from the doubles side but the Czech contenders did played extremely well to topple the number one seeded opponents. Hlavackova and Hradecka displayed
brilliant coordination and team play throughout the contest and gave away limited opportunities to their rivals to come on top. They absolutely blasted their way through the opening set of the match, sparing just one game for the Americans, and carried on
with their winning impetus in the following set to claim a memorable victory.
Huber and Raymond were expected to face some serious resistance from the Czech competitors but the top seeds were not anticipated to fall out that cheaply. They suffered a breadstick in the opening set and it drained out most of
their confidence, letting their opponents to built pressure upon them. However, Huber and Raymond managed to drag the following set into a tie-break but couldn’t hang on to their serve, letting the match point to the Czechs and finishing off in the bronze
medal match.
"It is amazing, we started so well, but then they started to play more aggressive and showed they were not going to let it go without fighting," Hlavackova said. "Luckily, Lucie kept my spirits up and served really well to get
us through the tie-break.
"We have the day off tomorrow so I think we want to enjoy this moment for now and on Sunday we are just going to go for it."
The fourth seeded Czech tandem is sure to get at least the silver medal from the coveted Olympics games but its aim is set upon the gold. They have to wait until the conclusion of the other semi-final clash between the third seeded
Russians, Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova, and the unseeded American veterans, Serena Williams and Venus Williams, to settle on Saturday. The Williams Sisters are the defending champions and their sublime run of form hints that they might face no real difficulty
in retaining the gold medal at the Olympics.
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