Spanish duo Garbine Muguruza and Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor have booked an appearance in the final tomorrow after defeating Aussie pair Ashleigh Barty and Bojana Bobusic in a close doubles semi this morning at the Moorilla Hobart International.
The Aussies came out in form, getting an early break to take a 2-0 lead in the first set. The duo, who are playing their first tournament together, displayed some fine-tuned teamwork with Bobusic on fire at the net barely missing an overhead. Bobusic and Barty advanced to take a 5-2 lead with Barty putting away a backhand volley down the line to win the first 6-2.
“It’s perfect preparation for the Australian Open really and we played well today and on those match points we did nothing wrong, we were doing the same thing so it was just a little bit unfortunate but that’s the way tennis goes sometimes. I thought we had a pretty good match and we’ve had a great week,” a positive Barty said post-match.
The 16-year-old had a successful year, beginning 2012 with a wildcard entry into both the singles and doubles qualifying events of the Brisbane International. She also paired with fellow countrywoman Casey Dellacqua to win the doubles title at the ITF $75,000 event in Toyota, Japan last November.
The second set saw the Spaniards find their rhythm coming out to hold serve and match Bobusic and Barty point for point. At 4-3 Muguruza, who achieved a career singles high world No.95 in July last year, displayed some quick volleying to break the Australians, pushing to a 5-3 lead in the second.
Just when it appeared that the Spanish pair might advance to take the second, the Aussie’s changed it up taking the score to 6-5 with the opportunity to serve for the set. With the Aussie duo failing to hold, the second was forced to a tie-break. It was a close breaker with several match-point opportunities for Barty and Bobusic but the Spaniards advanced with powerful forehands and quick net advances to get the edge 7-6(7).
The match was taken to a super tie-breaker with the Spanish pair gaining momentum. They powered ahead, rushing the Aussie’s and sprinting to a 3-0 lead. Barty and Bobusic stuck to their guns going for their shots but after several unforced errors and a strong performance from their opponents, Muguruza and Torro-Flor took the third 10-2.
“It’s always disappointing, especially having three match points but they played pretty well at the match points and it can go either way in the super tie-break so it’s unfortunate,” Bobusic said.
The Spaniards will tomorrow meet the winner of tonight’s doubles semi-final between Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino (ESP) and Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP) and Timea Babos (HUN) and Mandy Minella (LUX).
By Rosie Jones