Already in the second set, Haddad Maia had three match points with Zhang Shuai in a shortened game, but the Czechs stayed in the match. But in the last set, the match quickly slipped through their fingers. “When it was 0:5 and 0:40, nobody thought we could turn it around. We wanted to make at least one gem. Then it happened that we suddenly started winning points,” she explained to the portal Tennis world Vondroušová.
The Czech players kept their serve, took it twice from their opponents and it was off to a decisive tiebreak. “The whole time they were much luckier than us, but towards the end of the match things turned a bit,” said Vondroušová.
The final abbreviated game also offered great drama. Two more match points for the favorites, but the Czechs stopped them and converted the third chance to win themselves, eventually winning 3:6, 7:6 (9) and 7:6 (12). “I’ve never experienced this before,” smiled the 23-year-old tennis player, who a day earlier was eliminated in the singles before the gates of the round of 16.
Now he will play at least in a doubles match among the top sixteen. “It was probably the best doubles match we played together,” she praised. “We enjoyed it, we felt good and the atmosphere between us was excellent. We have a great relationship off the court as well and it is then transferred to the match,” she added Vondroušová. The Czech couple will challenge the Romanian-Ukrainian couple Elena-Gabriela Ruseová and Marta Kosťuková in the round of 16 on Monday.
