Russian doubles partners Alisa Kleybanova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova have won the women’s doubles final in straight sets over Polish duo Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska 6-3 7-5.
The Russian pair started off strong as they managed to break Jans and Rosolska in the first game.
“When you feel you can break your opponents serve in doubles it’s very important, it gives you a lot more confidence and you know we are both feeling confident with our serving games. We are both aggressive, hard hitters so obviously when we can put a lot of pressure on the return games, it is very good and in doubles that is the most important,” said Alisa.
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Both pairs managed to hold their serve, the Polish team starting to pick up a little momentum before Pavlyuchenkova and Kleybanova again broke their serve.
Klaudia Jans oozed frustration as they lost their own service game for the second time as the Russians claimed the first set 6-3.
Kleybanova and Pavlyuchenkova looked relaxed during the change of ends as they shared a laugh, showing no sign of nerves.
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“We are good friends off court and we have known each other for so many years, we actually played doubles together in juniors and you know even if we are not playing doubles together we’re still having a lot of fun,” said Alisa.
“We’re still friends, and we’re still laughing,” said Anastasia.
“It wasn’t any tactic; it’s just how we are.
“Most of the time it doesn’t have anything to do with the match,” said Alisa.
The second set had the Polish pair coming on with new found momentum – Jans now with her thigh strapped.
Jans and Rosolska had their serious games faces on now as they took the Russians service in the second game, determination expelling from their bodies as they snatched a 2-1 lead.
“They broke me third game, so I guess they felt more confident afterwards and they actually started playing much better than in the first set. They were more aggressive and they had a lot of emotions like saying ‘c’mon’ and stuff, and maybe we slowed down a bit, because we also got a little tired. The first set was pretty solid and we just maybe lost our concentration a little bit. But at the end we kept on fighting and you know just tried to come back to our game,” said Pavlyuchenkova.
The smiles somewhat disappeared from the Russian duo’s faces as they fought back, trying to win back their advantage, this game would be a fight to the death that only one team could win.
But at 6-5 the Russian duo broke the Polish pair’s serve to take the set 7-5.
“We just played our game, you know, we didn’t try to do something special against them, for us the most important thing is to do the right things on the court, the things that are working for the moment and to keep fighting and being positive, so whatever it took us to win it was just ourselves,” said Alisa.
Sunday’s men’s doubles final kicks off at 12 noon with the men’s singles decider between No.1 seed Robin Soderling and No.2 seed Andy Roddick to follow. Some tickets still remain for the men’s final at Pat Rafter Arena. Tickets can be purchased online from Ticketek.
