By Ros Satar
Anne Keothavong/Valeria Savinykh def Kristina Barrois/Tatjana Malek 6-4. 1-6, 10-6
Despite going out in the first round of the singles, at the WTA International Brasil Cup (Florianopolis, Brazil) Anne Keothavong and her partner Valeria Savinykh enjoyed a run to the finals in the doubles.
Up against the all German pairing of Kristina Barrois/Tatjana Malek in the semis, the pair started slowly losing Savinykh’s serve.
Keothavong held her serve, and the pair got themselves back in the game to get to 3-all
The British/Russian pairing got a decisive break to serve for the first set, and a hold to love for Savinykh sealed the first set.
The second set started almost as sluggishly with the pair being broken on both their opening serves, but they were able to break back to get on the board for 1-4.
Another Keothavong service game break, and a consolidating hold took the match into a deciding tie-break.
Despite their dominance in the second set, the Germans were never really in contention as Keothavong/Savinykh built up a lead, leaving them with a cushion of six match-points.
They lost 3 but a sharp volley at the net from Savinykh on Keothavong’s serve was enough to put them in the final, in a little over an hour.
I finally get to play in a @wta final here in Brazil with my doubles partner, Valeria. Smiling our way through 🙂 twitter.com/annekeothavong…
— Anne Keothavong (@annekeothavong) February 28, 2013
They will play the number 1 seeds in the final – Anabel Medina Garrigues/Yaroslava Shvedova.
James Blake/Jack Sock def Colin Fleming/John Peers 6-2, 3-6, 10-7
There was disappointment for Britain’s Colin Fleming, this week partnering Australia’s John Peers, who were defeated in the first round of the ATP 250 at Delray Beach, USA, at the hands of the US pairing of James Blake and Jack Sock.
Picture Credit: jamesboynes – Creative Commons Licence, via Flickr