Kirilenko/Petrova dispose of King/Niculescu in the doubles semis – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Doubles semi-final battle of Sony Ericsson open was won by the Russian pair of Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova, as they disposed of the American-Romanian team of Vania King and Monica Niculescu on Friday. The fifth seed team
took one hour and 26 minutes of play to register a comprehensive victory in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, marching into the final of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory event in Miami, Florida.
It was a fairly one-sided affair, with the Russians dominating for most of the time. King and Niculescu were outplayed in every segment of the game and proved no match for the sheer brilliance of the fifth seeded belligerent pair.
They were off to a dismal start in the opening set and could not recover from the early damage done by the Russian. King and Niculescu dropped the opening set without much resistance and kept their losing ways in the following set as well to gift away an easy
victory to their opponents.
Kirilenko and Petrova were exceptional on their first serve, delivering 73 per cent of it on target and bagging 31 out of 41 points to edge past their opponents. The fifth seed Russians crafted 14 break opportunities in the match
but only five conversions proved sufficient for them to wrap up victory in style.
"It's great to be in the final of this tournament - last year I lost first round here in doubles, so I'm really happy to go this far now," Kirilenko commented after booking a place in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open. "It's
great to play with Nadia. We're a good team. Hopefully this title will be ours."
The fifth seeded Russians went for the aggressive start right up, nailing a serve break early to take control of the momentum in the match. A further exchange of serve breaks settled the first set in their favour at 6-3. More gruelling
battle was witnessed in the following set and a total of five break points were registered. Kirilenko and Petrova reigned supreme over the unseeded opponent at 6-4, earning a title shot in the final of the event.
Kirilenko and Petrova have 2-0 winning record in the WTA finals as a doubles team and are deemed to be the hot favourite for winning the title in Miami. They will face the sixth seeded Italian pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci
in the title match of the Sony Ericsson Open. The Italians were successful against the Argentine wildcard duo of Gisela Dulko and Paola Suarez in the semi-final battle of the tournament on Friday.
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