AUSTRALIAN OPEN – Kateřina Siniaková (29) and Taylor Townsendová (29) did not lose a set even in the second match at this year’s Australian Open, although they were one ball away from having to turn the match against Yi-Fan Xu and Zhaoxuan Yang. In the end, the seeded Chinese duo defeated the Chinese duo 7:6, 6:1 thanks to averted set points and continue to defend last year’s triumph.
Siniaková/Townsendová – Xu/Yang 7:6, 6:1
Current doubles world number one Siniak set her sights on defending her Australian Open title with a first alongside Shuai Zhang in Adelaide to extend her lead at the top of the rankings. This year, Townsend began in Melbourne with a smooth victory over the Belgian-Czech couple Magali Kempenová and Anna Sisková, and in the end they did not even allow the other opponents a set.
However, they had unexpected problems against Xu and Yang. The clearly favored pair did not use any of the three break points in the third game, and although the Chinese women did not give them any chance to break, they could eventually lose the opening and one-hour sets. In the exciting tie-break, Siniaková and Townsend faced two set points and won the shortened game by a ratio of 9:7.
The second set was much easier for the seeds. The finalists of last year’s US Open could even award a canary. However, Xu and Yang got on the scoreboard at the last moment, and Siniaková and Townsend had to finish the match.
Siniaková collected five triumphs in doubles since the beginning of last season. However, she has not been doing very well alongside Townsend for some time, and in the previous year they reigned together only at the Australian Open and then only in February in Dubai. The native of Hradec Králové won three more trophies in Seoul with Barbora Krejčíková, in Wuhan with Storm Hunter and recently in Adelaide with Zhang.
In the round of 16 of the ongoing Australian Open, Siniaková and Townsend could meet the pair of Jesika Malečková and Miriam Škochová. However, the Czech tennis players lost the match twice, and the other opponents of the tournament number one will be the Japanese Miju Katóová and the Hungarian Fanny Stollárová.
Marie Bouzková only completed the opening round and together with the Slovenian Andreja Klepačová had an easy job. Suzan Lamensová and Eva Lysová gave up on them after only five games and at a score of 0:5.
Australian Open women’s doubles results
The article was originally published for Livesport Zprávy.
