Makarova and Vesnina clinch doubles crown
dubai — Olympic champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina clinched the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships doubles title after a 6-2 4-6 10-7 win in a rainhit final over Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Shuai Peng of China.
It was the first Dubai title for the Russian players. But there was an agonizing wait for them to end their Dubai drought on a wet day as passing showers stopped the match several times.
The two-hour-11-minute long final started at 5:02pm and the Russian finally got a chance to clinch the deal at 8:42pm.
“It was too much with the rain delays, to be honest. I think everyone would lose their rhythm. Even Roger (Federer), I think, would lose his rhythm after this kind of delays,” Vesnina laughed at the post-match press conference.
Makarova and Vesnina were quite brilliant in their net play in the first set as they completely outplayed their rivals.
In the second set, the sixth seeded pair of Hlavackova and Peng got the decisive break in the 10th game to take the match to the super tie-break.
But the second seeded Makarova and Vesnina kept their composure in the super tie break, overcoming some fascinating rallies to win the match.
“They came back to the game, you know. They had pretty good games on their serves. Then we were just a little bit tight,” admitted Vesnina. Makarova and Vesnina beat third seeds Sania Mirza of India and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in the semifinals on Friday, while Hlavackova and Peng got the better of H Chan of Taipei and Yaroslava Shvedova Kazakhstan in the second semifinal.
“It’s the first title for us in Dubai. And it’s the 25th anniversary, so we are very happy,” Makarova said.