Cincinnati Masters: Kichenok, Ostapenko capture women’s doubles title

Cincinnati [US]Lyudmila Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko continued their stellar season by winning their biggest team titles of all time at the Western and Southern Open on Saturday.

Kichenok and Ostapenko defeated Nicole Melicher-Martinez and Alain Perez 7-6(5), 6-3 in one hour and 24 minutes to win the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati.

After several rain delays finally took the court, the pair of Melicher-Martinez and Perez basically held the upper hand, breaking Ostapenko in the first game of the match to take a 4–2 lead. Kichenok and Ostapenko, however, returned 4-4 on the serve.

In the tiebreak, a powerful Ostapenko return earned his team a pair of set points, and Kichenok and Ostapenko converted the other of the two to take a one-set lead.

There was no break point 3–3 in the second set, but after that, Kichenok and Ostapenko won the final four games of the match to capture the title.

“It’s my biggest title and I’m very happy,” Kichenok said after the match.

“It’s hard to describe, it’s amazing. I just can’t find the words. I’m still a little shaky after the match, it’s so exciting,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter what the score is, [the key was] To be aggressive and put pressure on them,” WTA.com quoted Ostapenko as saying.

“It was something they didn’t like, and it helped us in crucial moments,” she said. (ANI)

Originally published at Pen 18