With Petra Kvitova in the singles semifinals, and two pair reaching the last four in the doubles competition, Czech Republic will have huge chance to continue her winning streak as a Country, after their Fed Cup titles obtained back-to-back in 2014 and 2015 (to add to the ones claimed between 2011 and 2012).
For the chance to gain a medal in Rio, the pairs, the first formed by Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova, and the second with Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova, will have to face the Russian partnership of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, and the Switzerland of the multiple Grand Slam doubles champion Martina Hingis, who found remarkable results in Rio pairing Timea Bacsinszky.
This day showed the exclusion from the competition of third seed pair from Taipei, formed by Chao Hao-Ching and Chang Yung-Jan, and fourth-seeds Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro from Spain. Russia Daria Kasatkina and Svetlana Kuznetsova also suffered a defeat, along with the Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, among the favourites for the medal competition after the early exit of top seeds in the first round.
Czech Republic pairs trying to make history
With two pairs still in the competition, the Czech Republic made sure to come back home from Rio with an Olympic medal in women’s doubles. Among Hlavackova and Hradecka’s pair, six seeds in Rio and 2012 Olympics finalists, the country’s hopes could be counting also on Safarova and Strycova, who, although separately, had already claimed good results in doubles, with two major titles for Safarova and 18 career titles for Strycova.
Hlavackova and Hradecka didn’t face an easy challenge as they took on Russian Kasatkina and Kuznetsova; despite winning the first set with a very comfortable 6-1 score line, in thirty minutes, they couldn’t convert four important break-points in the opening game of the second set; they eventually lost a crucial game while serving for remain in the set, which granted the Russians to book it with a 6-4 score.
The decider had been equally balanced. The Czechs could prevent their opponents to take the lead, immediately winning back an early break, and then saved three match points while serving to stay in the match. They went ahead to break the Russian’s serve right away, and consolidated it to win the match with a final 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 score.
They’ve been joined in the quarterfinals by Safarova and Stricova, who came back from one set down and a tricky situation to outplay Italy’s Errani and Vinci and advance.
The match didn’t start in the Czech’s favour. Quickly 1-5 down to the experienced Italians, the Czechs battled back until 4-5 down, but eventually couldn’t take the second break back, dropping the first set 6-4. They kept being in trouble as the second set started, 0-3 down again to the Italians, but they managed to battle back to level-off at 3-all, and then performed another exchange of breaks for a 4-all score. The following hold resulted crucial for Safarova and Strycova; one more break closed the set and kept their hopes alive by leveling the score to one-set all.
Up an important break, the Czech eventually got the chance to serve out the match in the decider, but the Italians denied it to them by breaking them back to 30. It hadn't been enough; despite having one chance to hold for a 5-all score, Errani and Vinci couldn’t convert it, and then fell on their third match point, clearing the path for the semifinals for Safarova and Strycova with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 final score line.
Switzerland and Russia will also battle for a place in the final
Czech Republic’s path to a record of a gold and a silver medal in the Olympic Games will meet two important challenges before becoming a reality. They’ll have to take care of Switzerland’s Hingis and Bacsinzsky and Russia’s Makarova and Vesnina first, both pairs proved to be dangerous opponents to defeat.
Doubles specialist and current world number one Hingis seemed to have found a good match in compatriot Bacsinszky, confirmed with today’s huge win against Taipei’s Chan sisters, third seeds in the tournament, defeated by the Swiss with a clear 6-3, 6-0.
Down 0-3 in the opening set, Hingis and Bacsinszky rallied back to win six games in a row, saving three break points, to close the first set without losing one more game. They extended their winning streak to twelve by winning the second set 6-0, conceding no more chance to their opponents and converting all three break points they created. Aside from the first game, the Taipei’s pair could score only seven points during the rest of the set, completely dominated by the Swiss.
The survived Russian pair also didn’t find an hard time as they took on Spain’s Muguruza and Suárez Navarro, who had already played together before, winning 3 WTA titles and reaching eight finals. The more experienced Makarova and Vesnina, with five Grand Slams finals (and two titles) in their career, eventually prevailed in straight sets.
After a very balanced first set, the Russians broke their opponents to love in the second-to-last game, and didn’t waste their chance to secure an important one-set lead. The second set had been equally balanced, but once again an important break gave the Russians the lead, which they didn’t lose for the rest of the set. The Spaniards had got as well one chance to break in the fourth game, but couldn’t convert it, and eventually lost the match 6-3, 6-4 without being able to steal a game from their opponents.
Vesnina and Makarova will need to face Safarova and Strycova for a place in the final; Hingis and Bacsinszky will have to get rid of the other Czech’s pair, Hlavackova and Hradecka, in search for their second Olympic final in a row.