Ostapenko/Hsieh lose final group match at WTA Finals
Latvian tennis player Jelena Ostapenko and Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei lost their last doubles group match at the WTA Finals to Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani in three sets. The Latvian-Taiwanese pair finished third in the group.
Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko and her Taiwanese partner Su-wei Hsieh lost their final group match at the WTA Finals in Indian Wells, California, the season-ending tennis event for the top players and doubles teams. Top seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Luisa Stefani of Brazil won 6-2, 6(2)-7, 10-3 in the deciding tiebreak. Ostapenko/Hsieh finished third in their group, and their semifinal hopes depended on the result of another match.
Before the match, the Canadian-Brazilian pair were slight favorites, with bookmakers offering odds of 1.66 on their victory. Ostapenko and Hsieh took the first set 6-2, starting with three games won and also benefiting from a double fault by Dabrowski. The second set was close and was decided by a tiebreak. In it the Latvian-Taiwanese pair made errors, including hitting into the net and putting the ball out three times, and lost 7-2. In the deciding tiebreak, which replaces a third set, Dabrowski/Stefani were stronger and won 10-3.
Statistics
Ostapenko/Hsieh were more efficient on break points (5 of 9 against 3 of 6), but trailed in points won on first serve (60% against 67%) and in total points (66-70). The aces-to-double-faults ratio was 3-6 for the Latvian-Taiwanese pair and 2-7 for their opponents. Winners to unforced errors: 21-27 against 23-19.
Group standings
In the first group, Dabrowski/Stefani won all three matches (3-0), Kristina Mladenovic and Hanyu Guo (France-China) are 1-1, Ostapenko/Hsieh are 1-2, and Elise Mertens and Shuai Zhang (Belgium-China) are 0-2. To reach the semifinals, a team had to finish at least second in the group, so the Latvian-Taiwanese pair needed Mertens/Zhang to beat Mladenovic/Guo. Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani of Italy won the second group, and the Czech-American pair of Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend also reached the semifinals.
