Russian doubles royalty Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova are one match away from clinching the career Grand Slam.
The No.2 seeds put in an efficient 6-4 6-3 display against Romanians Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu to rocket into the women’s doubles final.
Vesnina and Makarova are on the cusp of doubles history after landing the 2013 Roland Garros, the US Open title in 2014, before lifting the trophies together at Wimbledon in 2017.
“Trust us we will play with no pressure,” claimed Vesnina, as the Russians could join the 16 previous players to complete the set of women’s doubles majors.
“It was the same at the Rio Olympics, everyone was saying we had to get the gold, but we know how to do with this pressure, it’s not easy, but we’re not even talking about the Grand Slam. We have to take it match by match as the field is so strong.”
They’d match the likes of Martina Hingis, the Williams sisters and Martina Navratilova is securing the major quadruple.
“We will just continue to go out on court and give everything, to support each other. We want to enjoy the final, to give some energy to each other, to smile. Then, after the match it doesn’t matter what happens if you gave everything on the court.”
No.10 seeds Begu and Niculescu put up a gallant effort on Show Court 2, but struggled to absorb the power from the Russian duo.
“Today was a tough match. They are difficult opponents, you need to be focused all of the time, but we got through,” said Makarova. “The emotions are obviously very good.”
Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani toppled the Russian pairing in the 2014 Australian Open final and Vesnina is buoyed to have another shot at the title.
“It’s always great to be in a Grand Slam final. Already at the beginning of the year you have some good results. It doesn’t matter if it’s singles or doubles, you are in the final of a Grand Slam. It gives us a lot of confidence.”
The reunited Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic will be waiting in the final following their 6-4 6-2 triumph over No.8 seeds Peng Shuai and Su-Wei Hsieh.
“When we first started to play together on the Tour four years ago, our first tournament was Wimbledon and we made the final. So, we have good memories from that,” said Babos on court.
“I’m just very happy to be back playing with Kiki, we understand each other so well on the court, we complement each other’s games so well. We are such a great team.”
Mladenovic believes their friendship off court has enabled them to seamlessly fall back into success back on the court.
“She’s one of my best friends on Tour. It’s our first tournament back together after a long time and making a Grand Slam final is amazing. All players dream of that and hopefully we can go one step further,” the Frenchwoman said.
Babos echoed that sentiment as they beamed in their post-match interview: “I’d be so happy to share this with her, we grew up together, we’ve played so matches with and against each other. This is my favourite time of the year, the Australian summer, every match has just been incredible, but to get this title would be a dream come true.”
Heading into the final, Vesnina expects their opponents to illustrate their strong singles skills.
“It will be exciting for both teams, it will be a difficult and high-quality match,” the 31-year-old said.
“It doesn’t matter who they are playing, whether separate or together, they are very strong players, very powerful. They’re solid singles players, who also know how to play doubles.
“There’ll also be pressure for them, so we are looking forward to this final.”