Australian favourite Sam Stosur and China’s Zhang Shuai have booked a women’s doubles final ticket courtesy of a thrilling 7-5 4-6 7-5 triumph over the Czech combination of Barbora Strycova and Marketa Vondrousova on Wednesday night.
Zhang, the singles world No.40, and Stosur head into the final to take on reigning champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, where they’ll target revenge in a rematch of the US Open semifinals last September.
Stosur, 2011 US Open champion, is chasing her third women’s doubles major to join the 2005 US Open and 2006 Roland Garros titles, which were both won alongside Lisa Raymond.
“My heart rate is so high at the moment,” said an ecstatic Stosur, who lost in the 2006 women’s doubles final at Melbourne Park partnering Raymond. “That was amazing. It was a really tough match for us. Shuai picked it up for us at the end and I’m so pleased we’re into a final here together in Australia.
“We’re on a bit of a roll and hopefully we can keep it going in the final. It would be amazing for us, we’ll do everything we can to be ready and we’ll give it a good crack.”
Stosur sent out a signal of intent with a forehand down the line, but world doubles No.5 Strycova clattered three passing shots to earn an instant break.
From there, the unseeded Czech pair raced 3-0 ahead before Zhang’s well-crafted lob gained a break back.
Strycova and Vondrousova raced to a promising lead at 5-2, but two set points vanished as their opponents began to find the alleys with their shots.
A clear chance for a forehand putaway approach at 5-4 was missed by Strycova, and it proved costly as Stosur’s all-court artillery and Zhang’s piercing groundstrokes managed to clinch six consecutive games for the first set.
The momentum stayed with home charge Stosur and Zhang. Following two comfortable holds for 2-1, they capitalised upon an airshot and framed overhead from Strycova to take a break lead.
Nine out of the past 10 games had fallen in their favour, but the Czechs were undeterred. Singles world No.34 Strycova redeemed herself with an acute volleyed winner sparking their comeback into life.
Four successive games from the Czechs were pivotal, and Vondrousova swatted away the decisive volley to force a deciding set.
Great anticipation by Zhang earned break point off the Strycova delivery and the Chinese player’s drive forehand sent her and Stosur to a 2-0 advantage in the decider.
Just like the second set, Stosur/Zhang launched to a 3-1 advantage, but once again they were hauled level.
Stosur managed to wrestle back the initiative with a fine hold from break point down at 4-4, before Zhang canvased the net in a 28-shot rally to clinch a pivotal hold. That left the home crowd cheering on Stosur and Zhang to break in the final game to surge into the final.
Earlier, the second-seeded pairing of Babos and Mladenovic recovered from a turbulent start to dominate proceedings in a 6-4 6-2 passage past American duo Alison Riske and Jennifer Brady.
“We are thrilled to be in another final,” said Mladenovic, after the Frenchwoman and Babos combined for 35 winners.
“Back-to-back is a really awesome feeling. Alison and Jennifer are really quality players in singles, but also in doubles. They’ve had a terrific run, which we didn’t expect as they don’t play together that often.
“We handled their big serves pretty well, so we’re very happy to go through.
Babos, who reached the second round in the singles event at Melbourne Park, revealed her delight at the schedule ahead.
“We can’t tell you how happy we are that we aren’t the last match on tonight,” said the Hungarian, with victory wrapped up in the day session.
“Either way it will be a great match. We have the experience and we can’t wait to be back on Rod Laver Arena. It’s going to be an amazing final.”