Doubles Competition at the Australian Open

[MargaretMcAleer]

Seeing I am a huge fan of doubles I decided to post a thread for the Doubles Competition at the Australian Open in 2015.

Here is the updated news regarding the Doubles Competition.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova caused the latest upset in a fortnight of upsets at the Australian Open when they defeated the No 3 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina on Tuesday.

Following the exit of the draw's top two seeds,Errani/Vinci and Hsieh Su-Wei and Sania Mirza,Makarova and Vesnina were the highest seeds left at the q/final stage.Krajicek and Strycova continued the trend for upsets,to defeat the No 5 seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 63,36 76(3).Chan and Zheng proved far too strong for Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Andreja Klepac,winning 61 62.

In the last four,Mattek-Sands and Safarova will face No 16 seeds Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenfeld.On Monday,Georges and Groenefeld ended Errani/Vinci's title defense,and they followed this up with a 62 75 win over Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson.

The other s/final will pit Michaella Krajicek and Zahlavova Strycova against Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

The doubles final will be between,

Y.Chan(TPE)14/J.Zheng(CHN)14 v B.Mattek-Sands(USA)/L.Safarova(CZE)

Semi final results as follows,

Y.Chan(TPE)14/J.Zheng(CHN)14 d M.Krajicek(NED)13/B.Zahlavova Strycova(CZE)13 63 62

B.Mattek-Sands(USA)/L.Safarova(CZE) d J.Goerges(GER)16/A.Groenefeld(GER)16 6-0 retired.

 

[rubydo]

Disappointed Elena and Ekaterina got knocked out in the 1/4 finals was hoping they could nail a 3rd grand slam title. Happy for B. Mattek-Sands after all the injuries she has incurred.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

What a strange turn of events here in Ladies Doubles!
14 seed against unseeded in the final?

As solid as the top 10 ladies are in singles, the doubles is proving to be much much different!
This year there are no clear favorites anymore.

I am picking Y.Chan(TPE)/J.Zheng(CHN) to win it. Gotta go with the seeds.

Give us your prediction fashionista.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Bethanie Mattek Sands and Lucie Safarova to win the Doubles Title Grand Slam at the Australian Open

I was impressed with Bethanie Mattek Sands/Mirza when they won the doubles titles at Apia International,to me Bethanie was the stand out player in final.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Mixed doubles semi is coming up, Martina Hingis is playing.

Mixed Doubles - Semifinals
Rod Laver Arena
Martina Hingis (SUI) [7]
Leander Paes (IND) [7]
vs.
Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Pablo Cuevas (URU)

---

Not Before: 4:00pm
Margaret Court Arena
Mixed Doubles - Semifinals
Sania Mirza (IND) [1]
Bruno Soares (BRA) [1]
vs.
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) [3]
Daniel Nestor (CAN) [3]

---

Not Before: 4:00pm
Rod Laver Arena
Women's Doubles - Final
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)
Lucie Safarova (CZE)
vs.
Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) [14]
Jie Zheng (CHN) [14]

 

[rubydo]

King Daniel still continues to amaze, good charisma with Kristina.

 

[Kirijax]

The has been a weird tournament for doubles with all the favorites getting knocked out. Nice to see some new faces getting a chance for a Slam title too. Is Sands still wearing those funky outfits?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Hingis and Paes won 7-5, 6-4. Most probably in the other semis, Sania and Bruno will win
and that will make it an interesting final.

 

[Kirijax]

Paes is just amazing. How many titles has he won before?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Paes is just amazing. How many titles has he won before?

He has 8 men's doubles (has career GS) and 6 mixed doubles (missing FO). More important
than these, he has bronze in Olympics and that too in singles

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Mirza/Bruno vs. Kristina/Nestor is now in super TB. It looks to me that Bruno is not pulling his
weight in that team.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Sania/Bruno loses the super TB after leading heavily in it.

Do you know that the conventional wisdom in the super tie breaker is that whoever crosses
the 5 points first tends to lose in the end? That CW held good again today.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

The mixed doubles finals is now set. It will be Kristina/Nestor vs. Hingis/Paes. I expect it to
be a quality match (unlike many mixed doubles matches). All four players are individually
good players and both pairs are established pairs as well as opposed to ad hoc pairs.

 

[Kirijax]

Sania/Bruno loses the super TB after leading heavily in it.

Do you know that the conventional wisdom in the super tie breaker is that whoever crosses
the 5 points first tends to lose in the end? That CW held good again today.

How do you feel about Super Tiebreaks? They are exciting in a way but I always feel bad for the team that loses a big match like that. Brutal.

 

[kskate2]

I'm extremely pleased that BMS earns a slam title immediately after returning from injury. :celeb:

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

It was a closely fought doubles final

I would like to congratulate Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova being unseeded and winning the Womens Doubles Final.

Well done Ladies.

This is also a great result for Bethanie who has come back from hip surgery,also Bethanie and Mirza won the doubles title at Apia International,Sydney,I watched the final and Bethanie to me was the player of that final.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

What is a thread without a picture?

Congrads to the unlikely winners.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Bethanie-Mattek Sands and Lucie Safarova won the Australian Open Doubles title on Friday evening,which wasn't just the first time either has won a Grand Slam doubles title,but it was the first time since 2007 that a first time pairing went all the way at a major.

Friday's finals was an incredibly close affair,but it was Mattek-Sands and Safarova's gutsy plays on the biggest of points that sealed the victory for them.Safarova ripped a huge back hand down the line winner on set point in the first set and,after a see-saw second set-first they were up 2-0,then they lost five of the next six games to trail 5-3 before coming back to push it to a tie-break.It was Bethanie-Mattek Sands turn to step up on match point,ripping her own huge back hand winner down the line.

"First I want to say thanks to Lucie," Mattek-Sands said in her trophy speech."

"This is our first tournament together,so I think maybe we'll play a couple more this year!".

Mattek-Sands and Safarova are the first time pairing to win a Grand Slam doubles title since all the way back at the U.S.Open in 2007,when Nathalie Dechy and Dinara Safina lifted the title.The last time it happened at the Australian Open was Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alicia Molik in 2005.

Report from the WTA website,30th January.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Men's Doubles Final,will be played after the Women's singles final which will start not before 7.30pm,Saturday the 31st January.

Simone Bolelli (ITA)/Fabio Fognini (ITA) v Pierre-Hugues Herbert(FRA)/Nicolas Mahut (FRA).