Latvian tennis player Alyona Ostapenko in a pair with Ukrainian Ludmila Kichenoka reached the semifinals of the Adelaide “WTA 500” doubles tournament on Wednesday, doing so for the second week in a row.
The duo of Latvia and Ukraine, seeded third in the tournament, defeated Alicja Rosolska from Poland and Erin Rutliffe from New Zealand 6-3, 6-4 in the second round or quarter-final match.
For reaching the semifinals, Ostapenko and Kichenoka earned 185 doubles ranking points each.
It has already been announced that in the first round, the Latvian/Ukrainian pair defeated Oksana Kalashnikova from Georgia and Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine 6-0, 6-1.
In the semifinals, Ostapenko and Kichenok will face the neutral athlete Anastasiya Pavlyuchenkova in a duet with Yelena Rybakina from Kazakhstan, who beat Nicole Melikar-Martinez from the USA and Australian Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-3 in the second round.
The semi-final duel is scheduled for Saturday. According to Latvian time, it could start around 1:30 at night.
As you know, last week even in Adelaide, the Latvian/Ukrainian pair reached the semi-finals, where they lost to the US duo Eiža Muhammad/Taylor Townsend 4-6, 6-1, 8:10.
Last season, the Latvian and Ukrainian duo won two titles, winning the prestigious Cincinnati “WTA 1000” tournament and the Birmingham “WTA 250” competition. They also fought to the title matches in the “WTA 500” tournaments in Dubai and Eastbourne, and reached the semi-finals in the Wimbledon Championship and the French Open Championship.
Ostapenko (WTA 18th) also competed in singles in Adelaide, where she lost 3-6, 4-6 to neutral athlete Anna Kalinska (WTA 64th) in the first round.
The tournament in Adelaide takes place on outdoor courts on hard surfaces.
