Kuznetsova/Zvonareva conquer Errani/Vinci in the final showdown – Australian Open 2012
High flying team of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva became the first all-Russian team to lift a Grand Slam doubles title on Friday evening. They clobbered a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the title-round
at the Australian Open 2012, first of the four Grand Slam events held on the hard courts in Melbourne, Australia.
The unseeded tandem showed tremendous co-ordination after the opening set and overwhelmed resilience posed by the 11th seeded Italians in two hours and 18 minutes long marathon. They not only earned limelight at the Melbourne Park but also bagged
$454,500 prize money.
"In the middle of the second set we found the right game, what was good for us," Kuznetsova said after the match. "We knew we weren't at our best at the start but the match was so equal, so we knew we needed just a few percent to improve our game. We were
talking and figured out the right key."
"We started going for our shots a little bit more, taking more risks sometimes even though we had some more unforced errors," Zvonareva said of the final.
After exchanging three serve breaks, Errani and Vinci capitalised on their fourth break opportunity in the eleventh game and pocketed the opener with a 7-5 win. They lost their serve three times but converted four out of six break chances to clinch in almost
an hour.
Kuznetsova and Zvonareva rebounded in the following set and held their serve convincingly in the opening game. They maintained consistency in their game and continued plucking in remaining serves until they got the breakthrough in the eighth game. Despite
losing their edge in the very next game, the Russians cashed in their second break opportunity in the last game and sacked the equaliser by winning six games to four.
The Russian junction kept momentum floating into the final set and stroke out the opening three games in a row to take a 3-0 lead. Later, they held remaining serves after brushing off all five breakpoints they came across and triumph the set with a 6-3 score
line in almost three quarters of an hour.
The winning combination of Kuznetsova and Zvonareva displayed brilliant skills throughout the tournament. They upset two seeded teams en route to the final: the defending champions, Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy, and the sixth seeded
duo, India’s Sania Mirza and Russia’s Elena Vesnina, in three sets.
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