Siniaková and Townsend reach US Open quarter-finals

Thirty-year-old Czech tennis player Barbora Siniaková continues her pursuit of another Grand Slam women's doubles title — her twelfth in the discipline and thirteenth overall. In the third round of the US Open, she and American partner Taylor Townsend defeated the 13th-seeded pair of Hunter/Kravchik 7:6 (8:6), 6:4.

The win didn't come easily, but it keeps alive hopes of a truly unique achievement: this season Siniaková and Townsend have already won Roland Garros, having claimed the Australian Open a year earlier and Wimbledon before that. A US Open title would complete a full sweep of all four Grand Slam tournaments in succession.

A tough match marred by errors

"I won't hide it — today we didn't play our best tennis. It was tough. But that's what makes it all the more satisfying that we pulled through and fought until the end," Siniaková told Czech journalists.

"We weren't really in sync during the match. When Taylor was playing well, my game wasn't clicking, and vice versa. We made mistakes we normally wouldn't allow ourselves. We were searching for our rhythm, which is exactly why it means so much that we managed to grind out the win in two sets," the Czech added.

A tiebreak on the brink of defeat

The match didn't start well: as early as the second game, Townsend dropped her serve, forcing the Roland Garros champions to fight back from behind. They managed to level things at 3:5, when Hunter also lost her serve. The first set went to a tiebreak, where the Czech-American pair trailed 3:6 and saved three set points in a row. They then seized the initiative, broke back and immediately converted it — sealing the first set after an hour and five minutes of battle.

The second set was far more even, with both pairs dropping serve once. The turning point came at 5:4, with Hunter serving: her service game fell apart, gifting Siniaková and Townsend two match points, the second of which they converted. The duo have yet to drop a single set at this tournament.

In the next round, the Czech-American pair will face Spain's Cristina Bucșa and America's Nicole Melichar-Martinez.

Source: sport.cz