Women's doubles semi-final
Top women's doubles seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova earned the chance to defend their 2022 title at Melbourne Park, blasting past semifinal opponents Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-2 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena.
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The Czech pairing won 74 per cent of their first serve points, outmatching the 51 per cent effort achieved by their foes.
"We are feeling well," said Krejcikova.
"Throughout the tournament we've been having some really good games…I think that's really important.
The 2021 Roland Garros singles champion added, "I also felt that with every single game we are improving, which is nice. We are in the finals, which is a big achievement already, but we want to do everything to try to go all the way."
"It means a lot, it's amazing to be back in the final, I love to play here," said Siniakova. "We will try to show our best in the final."
The duo are hoping to add another AO crown to the six women's doubles Grand Slam titles they've amassed together including last year's Wimbledon and US Open.
Although the pair were forced to withdraw from Roland Garros after Krejcikova tested positive for Covid, they have not lost a doubles match at a major since the US Open 2021.
In the final, Krejcikova and Siniakova will face Japanese 10th seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, who upset American second seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-2 7-6(7), saving four set points en route to victory.
"We started out playing really well and we were really happy with the way we were being really aggressive," Shibahara said.
"We knew they were going to come back, they're just amazing players so we knew we had to dig deep in the end and we're just really happy that we kept playing the way we did."
The Japanese duo placed 29 winners, nine more than their rivals. It will be a first Grand Slam women's doubles final of both of them.
Aoyama thanked Shibahara for encouraging her to keep believing when they found themselves under pressure at the business end of the second set.
"Last year we got to the semis and it was a really close match so we were really hoping that this year we'd make it to the finals and hopefully go all the way, so that's what we came to do," Shibahara said.