Peschke/Srebotnik strain past Huber/Raymond in the doubles final – Apia International Sydney 2012
Top seed duo of Kveta Peschke from Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik from Slovenia stood tall against the second seeded American pair of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the doubles final of the Apia International Sydney on Friday. The Czech-Slovenian combination laboured hard for one hour and 29 minutes before getting the better of Huber and Raymond in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 13-11, to lift the season-opening trophy in Sydney, Australia.
Peschke and Srebotnik showed tremendous consistency throughout the tournament and proved to be the most deserving pair for winning the championship battle. They devised excellent coordination between their individual games and stood strong in intense pressure situations of the competition to take the glory in the end.
The top seed duo delivered 63 per cent of its serve on target and secured 25 out of 40 points on it en route to victory. Peschke and Srebotnik crafted a total of seven break opportunities in the entire matchup and converted three of them to claim victory in the end.
Huber and Raymond had an emphatic victory over the fourth seeded Russian duo of Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova in the semi-final round but couldn’t repeat the similar sort of performance in the big match on Friday. The Americans were off to a sloppy start and by the time they get their eyes settled in the game, the top seeded opponents had already nailed the opening set to get one up. Huber and Raymond made a steady recovery in the following set and eventually won it to enforce a third one. After a nail-biting decider, Peschke and Srebotnik finally overcame the American duo to register their first doubles championship title of the 2012 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association).
Peschke and Srebotnik charged into the first set with two serve breaks right up, racing away to 4-0 in barely 20 minutes of play. A third break point conversion in the seventh game closed out the first set for the top seeds at 6-1.
Huber and Raymond struck early in the second set and serve break in the third game assisted them to gain a substantial position in the set at 3-1. The American duo held its lead till the end and pocketed the second set at 6-4 to bring super tie-breaker round into play.
The ultimate decider also went to the wire and was stretched to a total of 24 points before Peschke and Srebotnik could triumph. The top seeded pair clinched the third set at 13-11 to be declared as the women’s doubles champion at the Apia International Sydney.
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