Number 1 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova from Czech Republic beat Veronika Kudemertova and Elise Mertens 6-2 6-3 in 1 hour and 11 minutes to reach their second consecutive Australian Open women’s doubles final.
Krejcikova and Siniakova finished runner-up to Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s edition of the Australian Open. The Czech doubles team have already won two Roland Garros titles in 2018 and 2021 and Wimbledon in 2018. They also claimed the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo last summer.
The Czech players dropped their serve once in the semifinal and converted five of their six break points. They earned two breaks to close out the first set 6-2. Mertens held serve for the first time in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead. Kudemertova hit a backhand volley to break Siniakova for 3-1, but Siniakova and Krejcikova fought back by winning five consecutive games to secure their spot in the final.
“We had to go through a lot of tough matches to get to the final, so I think I can say for both of us that we are really proud and looking forward to the final, said Krejicikova.
Krejcikova and Siniakova set up a final match against Anna Danilina from Kazakhstan and Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil, who beat number 2 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara 6-4 5-7 6-4 after 2 hours and 19 minutes in the other semifinal.
Danilina and Haddad Maia reached the first Grand Slam final of their career. The Kazakh and Brazilian team went up a set and a break to build up a 6-4 2-1 lead and earned a match point on Shibahara’s serve at 5-3, but the Japanese team fended it off with a forehand winner.
Shibahara and Aoyama broke Haddad Maia when the Brazilian player was serving for the match, and won the next four games to clinch the second set 7-5 forcing the match to the third set.
Danilina and Haddad Maia fought back by breaking serve in the third game of the third set to take a 2-1 lead. They held on their lead to give Maia another chance to serve out the match at 5-4. Maia sealed the third set 6-4 with a hold at love. “It was not easy for me to lose my serve when I was serving for the match in the second set, serving to go to my first Grand Slam final”, said Haddad Maia.
