Doubles draw made in Doha

The doubles draw has been made in Doha, and Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta will play Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova in the semifinals. Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik will play Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs in the other semifinal match.

The first semifinal is of particular interest. Dulko and Pennetta--close friends who have been occasional doubles partners for years and decided to play as a consistent team this year--are the top-ranked team, with six 2010 doubles titles. They won Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, Bastad, Montreal, and Moscow. They also reached the finals in Madrid and Beijing.

King and Shvedova, on the other hand, had played together in only two tournaments--both this year--when they won the 2010 Wimbledon title. In their next three events, they failed to get beyond the second round. But then they won the U.S. Open, defeating Dulko and Pennetta along the way.