Sara Sorribes and Cristina Bucsa have earned themselves a place in the women’s doubles final after defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 7-6 (1). In doing so, they have written their names into Mutua Madrid Open history, as the only home pair to reach the women’s doubles decider, along with Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez in 2014 and 2015. On both those occasions, the Spanish team finished as runners-up, therefore Sunday’s final will provide a chance for immortality.
Success in doubles is normally accompanied with a story of many hours spent on court between tournaments or playing several consecutive competitions as a team. However, the only thing uniting Cristina and Sara is their nationality. They had never played or even practised together before this event.
As Sorribes herself has said, combining her experience and grit with the shotmaking of Bucsa, the result is a balanced yet potent cocktail. Add to that a dash of Sara’s magical connection in Madrid, and it appears to be a recipe for success.
In a Manolo Santana Stadium that was behind them all the way, two double-faults from Pavlyuchenkova in the opening set of the match eventually proved a critical mistake. At 2 games to love, Sorribes and Bucsa didn’t look back, holding onto their advantage thanks to some solid play both at the net and from the baseline. With barely any unforced errors, the first set was theirs (6-4).
After the break, the match turned on its head. Potapova’s power forehand rescued her partner on several occasions and they took a 3-1 lead. But the Spaniards’ determination allowed them to break back immediately before breaking their opponent’s serve once more. However, Sorribes was unable to consolidate with a win on her own delivery that would have closed the match out. The second set went to a tiebreak, which the home favourites won resoundingly, 7-6 (1).
In the final, they will meet Laura Siegemund and Barbora Krejcikova who caused an upset in the morning session by knocking out Su-Wei Sieh and Elise Mertens, 6-3, 7-5. While the Czech player won in the Spanish capital last year, Siegemund is one of the most promising players on tour, therefore Sara and Cristina have a tough task ahead of them. If one thing is certain, though, they will leave everything on the clay of Madrid.
