The fourth-seeded duo Ostapenko/Kichenoka lost 2-6, 2-6 to the second seeds of the tournament, Katerzyna Sinjakova and Barbora Krejcikova from the Czech Republic.
In the first game with 16 games, Ostapenko and her partner gave the opponents one break point, but won the game – 1:0.
In the very next game, with Krejčikova serving, the Latvian/Ukrainian pair managed to win one more game (2-0), but the next three games of their service were lost, the Czech duo won the set with excellent Sinjakova serves.
Ostapenko/Kichenoka also started the second set with a serve, the servers winning the first two games – 1-1. In the next three games, the tennis players receiving the serve celebrated their victory, with the Czech duo taking a 3-2 lead.
The Czech women also won the next three games, Krejčikova serving the point game at the net after Sinjakova’s good serve.
The 2018 Wimbledon champions reached the final for the second time in London.
The Czech women served three runs, while their opponents – none, and also committed fewer double faults (1:5).
The winners were superior in all other elements of the game as well, especially excelling in the points scored with the first serve (68%:42%).
Also, the Czech women realized six out of eight break points (Ostapenko and Kičenokai – 2/6), and also won 58% of the serves while serving to the opponents. The Latvian/Ukrainian duo had only 39% of them.
Throughout the match, Ostapenko/Kichenoka won 46 of 114 games.
Ostapenko/Kichenoka defeated French tennis players Oceane Doden and Tatiana Maria from Germany in the first round with 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the second round match with 6-2, 7-6 (7:5) over Arianni Hortono and Demi Schours from the Netherlands, defeated British tennis players Harriet Dart and Heather Watson in the round of 16 with 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, and in the quarter-finals with 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 over Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Taiwan’s Haochin Chan, who in this was number eight in the tournament.
Meanwhile, the Czech won the first three matches in two sets, including the second-round match against Estonian Aneta Kontaveita and American Shelby Rogers, but in the quarterfinals she defeated American Nicole Melikar-Martinez and Australian 1-6, 7-6 (7:2), 6-2 Elena Peres.
For Ostapenko and Kichenoka, this is already the second consecutive “Grand Slam” tournament in which they manage to reach the semifinals.
On the other hand, Czech women are four-time winners of “Grand Slam” doubles tournaments, celebrating a total of 11 victories in tournaments.
In singles, Ostapenko reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon, and in mixed doubles paired with Colombian Roberta Farah – to the quarterfinals.
Ranking points are not awarded at the Wimbledon Championships.
The Wimbledon championship will run until July 10.
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