The Czech duo of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova captured the doubles title at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament in Seoul on Sunday.
The longtime partners defeated Maya Joint of Australia and Caty McNally of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) in the women’s doubles final at the Korea Open at Olympic Park Tennis Center in the capital.
This was the 18th WTA doubles title together for Krejcikova and Siniakova. They have also won seven Grand Slam doubles titles and the 2021 Olympic gold medal as a tandem.
The Czech team took the first set 6-3 but then frittered away three championship points while up 5-4 in the second set. Forced into a tiebreak in the second set, Krejcikova and Siniakova took a 3-1 lead before Joint and McNally won the next four points to take the lead.
The two teams went back and forth, before Joint pushed her return wide to give the Czechs a 7-6 lead. The 103-minute battle then ended when McNally’s hit the top of the net with her backhand volley.
“I think we had a great, great week with a lot of nice moments during our matches. And I’m really happy that we were mentally tough and that we got through,” Krejcikova said. “Today, we can celebrate the victory and enjoy the nice trophy, and leave Korea with a smile on our face.”
Siniakova thanked the Korean tennis fans for their support throughout the week, saying, “The fans here are amazing. I think they created such a great atmosphere on every court, so it was really, really great to play in front of them.”
Both Siniakova and Joint had been eliminated in the semifinals of the singles competition here, while Krejcikova lost in the quarterfinals and McNally was gone in the round of 32.