Doubles Joy for Kirilenko and Petrova

A week ago they were battling out for the last remained seat, but two matches into the competition and Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova run away with the biggest doubles title of their careers, winning the WTA Championships in Istanbul. 

It was a tense couples of months for the Russians, as with Maria's injury blow, their place at the Season Ending Championships was seriously threatened by Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears. There was such a small margin separating the two teams, as they had to go head-to-head in order to determine who goes to Istanbul. Cheered by a partisan Moscow crowd, last Saturday the home favourites won the semifinal clash at the Kremlin Cup to book a last minute ticket to Turkey.

With only the best four teams present at the prestigious event, the Russians had to play their best tennis in order to challenge their opponents. And they surely did so, especially after being completely blown off court by Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in  the opening set of their semifinal match. Kirilenko and Petrova recovered though at the start of the second act when they took the initiative. They became more aggressive and started dictating the play, managing thus to level the dispute, before securing a superb victory with a brilliantly played tie-break. Things were less difficult in the final, as they faced Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. The latter, runner-ups at Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open, were unable to cope with the inspired performance of their rivals, bowing out 1-6,4-6. 

While Petrova has won the tournament back in 2004 with Meghann Shaughnessy, for Kirilenko this was one of the biggest triumphs of her career. She caps a magnificent 2012 season in both singles and doubles. In singles she lost two finals, in Pattaya and New Haven, got to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and reached her highest ranking at number 12 before the US Open. In doubles, she and Petrova won the bronze medal at London's Olympic Games and were runner-ups at the French Open. The duo will continue their partnership next year when they will seek their first Grand Slam success.

Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova took full advantage of their last-minute ticket to Istanbul by winning the title, their biggest success together. In the final, the Russian duo overcame Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-1,6-4.

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