Russia’s Maria Kozyreva and Belorussian Iryna Shymanovich have taken out a thrilling doubles final at the Workday Canberra International. The final score was 6-7(9), 7-5, (10-8).
In doing so they have denied former world no. 2 singles player Vera Zvonareva a title at the age of 41.
Zvonareva was a last minute partner to Japan’s Ena Shibahara the former doubles world no. 4.
The Japanese/Russian combination took the first set in a tie-breaker after their opponents had opportunities to claim the opening set.
In the second set Zvonareva and Shibahara were close to claiming the title before a few errors proved to be costly.
Kozyreva, the world no. 67 and Shymanovich the world no. 75 played some key volleys to stay in the match, before securing the second set and then going to claim the title in the match tie-breaker.
It was the second straight final that Zvonareva had lost in doubles after going down in the W100 final in Dubai back in December. For that tournament she partnered with 17-year-old Rada Zolotareva from Russia.
In the opening set both teams broke twice before the tie-breaker decided the set.
In the second set Zvonareva and Shibahara were broken three times, their opponents just twice.
In the match tie-breaker it could have gone either way but in the end the Russian/Belorussian pairing held their nerve to claim the title.
It was the first time in Australia for Kozyreva.
Shymanovich had been the top seed in the women’s singles qualifying draw but lost her opening match.
Shibahara and Zvonareva had both lost in round two of qualifying before their success in the doubles draw.
