The women’s doubles semifinals of Australian Open 2009 were played on Friday, with Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama first to book their place in Friday’s final.
An in-form Hantuchova and Sugiyama, who’ve won three doubles titles together, were in control throughout the match, winning comfortably against the French-Italian pair of Nathalie Dechy and Mara Santangelo, 6-4 6-3.
Sugiyama’s quick hands at the net helped the No.9 seeds secure a break in the first game of the match. It was a sign of things to come, with both Hantuchova and Sugiyama showing their dominance at the net. Dechy and Santangelo’s miscommunication also helped Hantuchova and Sugiyama, with the French-Italian pair chasing down the same ball on more than one occasion with predictable results.
Having lost her serve early in the set, Hantuchova made up for it by serving an ace to secure the first set for herself and Sugiyama.
The second set was a similar affair, with the No.9 seeds gaining a 5-1 lead before Dechy and Santangelo made a late comeback to win two games. They’d left their run too late however, and Hantuchova and Sugiyama clinched the match by winning the final game to love.
In the second semifinal, the Williams sisters were pitted against the Australian-Italian duo of Casey Dellacqua and Francesca Schiavone.
Coming out to play in her second match of the day, following her earlier victory against Russian Elena Dementieva in the women’s singles semifinals, Serena appeared remarkably fresh as the American pair immediately went on the attack.
In a customary display of power, the No.10 seeds, winners of the 2001 and 2003 Australian Open doubles crowns, pounded back their opponents’ serves to give themselves three breaks. Exchanging of shots was kept to a minimum as Serena and Venus wasted little time finishing off points, quickly wrapping up the first set 6-0 in just 22 minutes.
All hope was not lost for the Dellacqua/Schiavone pair however, as they had successfully recovered from a similar score in their quarterfinal. It would be a much harder task against the Williams sisters though, and in the end, not one they managed to achieve.
With the Williams sisters dominating at the net, Dellacqua and Schiavone were only able to win two games in the second set. Leading 5-2, Venus pulled out an impressive service game, which included two aces and a volley winner, to secure a finals berth for Serena and herself with a 6-0 6-2 victory.
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