King/Shvedova edge past Grandin/Uhlirova to clinch title win – Western & Southern Open 2011
Seeded at number three in the tournament, the combination of Vania King of the United States and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan took down the duo of Natalie Grandin of South Africa and Vladimira Uhlirova of Czech Republic to
lift the doubles title at Western and Southern Financial Group Masters on Sunday afternoon.
Being played at the outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, near Cincinnati, United States, the third seeded duo played excellent doubles game to lift the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier
Series title. King and Shvedova laboured for one hour and fifty two minutes of play to wrap up the three-set thriller at 6-4, 3-6, 11-9, to claim the championship title.
Both sides displayed their brilliance in the enthralling contest that took place on Sunday afternoon but King and Shvedova took the better of their opponents in the last moments of play. Grandin and Uhlirova hung in the game till
the last minute and fought tooth and nail before ending the matchup in dismay in the third set.
A number of serve breaks were witnessed in the contest, with both duos belting assertive winners in the game to take the better of one another. Action took off right from the opening set, with four consecutive break points exchanged
between the two pairs. Grandin and Uhlirova drew first blood but the third seeded duo immediately frittered away their advantage in the set.
Another trade of serve breaks took the scores to 4-4 but the fourth break point conversion from King and Shvedova left them serving for the set at 5-4. The third seeded pair had no difficulty in serving out of the first set at
6-4 to get the upper hand in the matchup.
Grandin and Uhlirova turned the tables on King and Shvedova in the very next set, breaking their serve in the fourth game to lead 3-1 early in the set. They reeled off 12 out of 17 first serve points in the game to take the better
of their opponents and continued with their aggressive intent to hold their lead in the game. King and Shvedova squandered away two break opportunities in the second set and eventually submitted the set to Grandin and Uhlirova at 3-6.
The decisive third set also went to the wire, with both duos battling it extremely hard to grab the championship title. A crucial mini-break in the last minutes of the contest resulted in victory for King and Shvedova at 11-9,
lifting the Cincinnati Premier title.
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