Kateřina Siniaková (29) will also play major tournaments next season with Taylor Townsendová (29). Together with the American, they won two Grand Slams in doubles and on Friday they were very close to advancing to the finals of the Tournament of Champions in Riyadh. After losing the match with an unused match point, the doubles world number one confirmed further cooperation and regretted the number of her own mistakes.
“It doesn’t rate well. I’m very sorry. I don’t think the opponents won it. There were big mistakes from our side that helped them a lot.” said Siniaková, who will end the season as world number one in doubles for the fifth time, equaling Martina Navrátilová’s record.
Townsend, who is the same age, lost to Veronika Kuděrmětová and Elise Mertensová in an even match on Friday night, Riyadh time. They denied the second seed a match point in the tie-break of the second set. After almost two hours and a super tie-break, the Russian and the Belgian were rejoicing.
Siniaková was able to reach the final for the fifth time at the prestigious Tournament of Champions, last year she played it with the American partner. However, she has only won the title with Barbora Krejčíková in 2021.
In the first set, Siniakova and Townsend had the upper hand and won it 6:4. “We played aggressively and we succeeded in what we wanted to play. Then, unfortunately, our mistakes came.” described the introduction by a native of Hradec Králové.
They entered the second set with a break, but then the American easily lost her serve and the game began to level out. Kuděrmětová and Mertensová had two set points at 5:4, but this time Townsendová held the pair with a serve.
In the tie-break, last year’s finalists of the Tournament of Champions reached 6:5 on the return to match point. “I don’t think I played the match ball very badly. I played a decent return, but unfortunately my opponent handled the volley well and I didn’t get the ball over the net. I’m very sorry, that one ball could have gone differently and it could have been the end,” regretted Siniaková.
Although the Czech-American pair won the first point in the super tie-break, they led for the last time. “Unfortunately, we continued the performance from the second set. The opponents managed to put more balls on the court than we did. We made a lot of mistakes,” repeated Siniaková.
Townsend then made two easy errors from 6:8. The seeded No. 2s did not add their fourth win in Riyadh. “We didn’t win the title, it’s a big regret. Despite how strong we were as a couple, the semi-final match was unfortunately the weakest on our part. We both left everything there and in the end, the better couple simply advanced.” added Siniaková.
She will continue with her American teammate. “Taylor and I have an agreement for next season as well. I should play the big tournaments with her.” added the winner of 32 circuit and mixed events at the Paris Olympics. He will now rest in the Maldives.
