Siniakova/Townsend meets HSIEH/OSTAPENKO in the final

Top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend will meet No. 3 Seedene Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko in the women’s double final at the Australian Open after both teams won a semi-final in three sets Friday to achieve a final place.

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Siniakova and Townsend came from a set backwards to finish races of unshaided Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shaider 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3, while Hsieh and Ostapenko broke the eight-match victory series of No. 2 seeds. Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3.

Siniakova and Townsend are looking for their second Grand Slam title as a team after triumphed in Wimbledon last year, while Hsieh and Ostapenko will play for a trophy in just their second tournament together, after losing the first match of their partnership in Adelaide. But none of the winning teams looked like they would be in that position as they faced early deficits in their semi -finals – though Hsieh and Ostapenko slack with a 70 -minute first set in their pocket after rescuing three set points .

After losing their first set of the tournament from 4-2, Siniakova and Townsend continued to give the Olympic Silver Medal winners Andreva and Shaider their first loss of the season following the young season opening victory in Brisbane. The top seedene saved four breakpoints on Siniakova’s 1-1 delivery, and although they later failed to serve the second set from two sets of pints of 5-3, they stuck to break the shraiders serve for the second time in the set to send. Match the distance.

Put the three so the favorites win the final three games of the match – along with the last five points. They emphatically sealed the 2-hour and 19-minute affair by keeping Townsends Serve to Love with a shower of winners, and ending the match with 48 as a team.

“It was definitely a tough fight, but even in the first (set) we were up, we did well, we just missed a few options, so we kept saying to each other that it was on our racket, It was us who made the mistakes, “Siniakova said after the match.

“We really fought for every point and I think the team spirit was really good. We supported each other and I think that’s why we won.”

Against the reigning WTA finals, Riyadh presented by the PIF masters Dabrowski and Routlife, Hsieh and Ostapenko also used a dominant view in the third set on serve to secure the victory.

They won 12 of the first 15 points in the last set to take a 3-0 lead, and in total they fell only five points in five service matches in the last set.

“After not a light second set – I felt we didn’t play best in the second set – but I felt that in the third set we just forgot the second set and just tried to play and find out the game,” Ostapenko said afterwards. “It was a very tough match, they played very well, but I think we were very happy with the way we played.”

“I feel like the first tournament in Adelaide, we still got to know each other, because we never played (together) … and I feel like this tournament, we’ve started to feel better,” added Ostapenko. “Su-Wei is one of the best net players in the world and I hit the ball pretty hard, so it makes her life a little easier and I think it’s a good chemistry.”

Hsieh is looking for an eighth Grand Slam Double title with a fifth other partner, while Ostapenko offers his second in a row after joining Lyudmyla Kichenok to win the US Open last summer.