Friday, June 3, 2011

Unseeded team wins French Open doubles title

Andrea Hlavockova and Lucie Hradecka, the unseeded Czech team, won the French Open today by defeating 7th seeds Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3. Hlavockova and Hradecka--who also took out the 2nd, 3rd and 6th seeds--did what most winners have done at this tournament: They managed the wind.

This was Vesnina's third loss in a major final. The most memorable of her losses, I suppose, was the 2010 Wimbledon final, in which she pretty much had to play the whole thing herself because her partner, Vera Zvonareva, came unglued after losing the singles final. Vesnina and partner Victoria Azarenka were the runners-up at the 2009 French Open; they lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual.
 
Hradecka, by the way, is a rarity on the tour, as far as singles go--she has a huge serve and hits a lot of aces (18 in one match is her record, I think), but does not have a high ranking.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So happy with this result! Both Hlavackova and Hradecka were so excited, great to see.

I'm surprised Hradecka isnt ranked higher...as you said Diane, she has a big game and is a great natural ball striker.

Diane said...

The few times I've seen her lately, she looked to be in better shape, so maybe it was a movement issue. We don't get to see her much on TV, so it's hard to know.

It's great for them that they won the French Open; I have always thought they had potential as a team, just from what I knew about them.