Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her doubles partner Peng Shuai of China were one match away from the women’s doubles title at the Dubai Championships after an intense semi-final match on Friday.
The fourth-seed Hsieh and Peng faced off against the first-seeded Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia, last year’s Dubai Championships women’s doubles title winners.
The Taiwanese-Chinese duo easily won the first set 6-1, but suffered a defeat in the second set 3-6, leading them into a final tie-breaking set.
While they led the third set in the beginning, their Russian rivals quickly picked up speed, winning just enough games to even out the scores.
It was only after Hsieh and Peng were able to win three consecutive games that they won the match 6-1, 3-6, 10-7.
Hsieh and Peng are to face Tawain’s Chan Hao-ching and China’s Yang Zhaoxuan in the finals.
Meanwhile, Daria Kasatkina saved three match points before knocking out second-seeded Garbine Muguruza 3-6, 7-6 (11), 6-1 to reach the women’s final.
The unseeded Kasatkina will meet defending champion Elina Svitolina in the final.
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