Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková and Barbora Strycová, the two 32-year-old Czechs have been playing together since the Mutua Madrid Open in May, and they will have the opportunity to cap off their very successful season at the year-end-championships at Singapore.
Sestini Hlavackova began the year with Latisha Chan, a pairing that did not prove to be very successful, which resulted in their separation after Dubai. The Czech bounced around between different partners such as Monica Niculescu, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and Alla Kudryavtseva for a few weeks, until settling down with Strycova after reaching the semifinals of Madrid.
Strycova is considered a very solid singles player but has experienced a lot of success in doubles over the course of her career. The 32-year-old has reached the semifinals of three slams and won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. Strycova started her doubles year with Lucie Šafárová without much success but won Indian Wells on a one-off with Su-Wei Hsieh. Her last tournament before teaming up with Hlavackova was Prague, where Strycova teamed up with her young countryman Barbora Štefková to reach the quarterfinals.
Strycova and Sestini Hlavackova have had a very successful four months together, but won only one title during their run, New Haven. Consistency has been key for the Czechs, reaching the finals of Tokyo, Wuhan, and Rome, as well as the semifinals of Roland Garros. Sestini Hlavackova and Strycova have done great to reach Singapore, but their season has lacked big titles and was marked disappointing early eliminations at Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
Other than Strycova and Sestini Hlavackova, a younger pair of Czechs qualified for Singapore, Katerina Siniaková and Barbora Krejčíková. Second to qualify were the Australian Open champions Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos. Along with the experienced Czechs, the pair that defeated them in the Wuhan final, Demi Schuurs and Elise Mertens.