Chan/Mladenovic take down Chang/Govortsova in doubles final – OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open 2012
19-year-old French, Kristina Mladenovic, had a brilliant week of playing tennis, as she not only won her maiden WTA singles championship title but also claimed glory in the doubles category in Chinese Taipei. She teamed up with
the local contestant, Hao-Ching Chan, to outplay the second seeded Taiwanese-Belarusian tandem of Kai-Chen Chang and Olga Govortsova, in the final of the OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open on Sunday.
Chan and Mladenovic had to battle hard for one hour and 38 minutes before they finally hunted down their tough competitors in a three-setter, 5-7, 6-2, 10-8. It is also worth noting that it was Chang who suffered defeat at the
hands of Mladenovic in the singles final of the tournament later that day. The Taiwanese missed out both of the title opportunities in this tournament, while the French teenager secured all of her chances to claim double glory at Taipei Open.
The final battle displayed some high-paced doubles tennis action from both sides and it was a real treat to watch for the local crowd. Chang and Govortsova took the early lead in the match after pocketing the opening set but seemed
to lose all of their steam in the following set, letting the top-seeded opponents to come back in the contest. Chan and Mladenovic made their emphatic comeback in the second set and spared merely two games for the rival before sealing it 6-2.
With the match tied at one-all, it all came down to the super tie-break round and both duos laboured extremely hard to come out as the winners. Chang and Govortsova raced to 3-1 lead right away in the decider but suddenly went
through a terrible slump. However, they managed to tie the score line once again at 8-8 but Chan and Mladenovic delivered a crucial blow at the right moment to earn a mini-break. The top seeds broke to 9-8 and then won the all-important match point with ease
to be crowned as the deserving champions.
It was a real nail-biting finish to the champions match but Chan and Mladenovic were certainly better than their second seeded opponents in most segments of the game.
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