Mladenovic and Wickmayer win Korea Open doubles title

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Published: 25 Sep. 2022, 15:39

Mladenovic and Wickmayer win Korea Open doubles title

European pair Kristina Mladenovic of France, left, and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium pose for a picture after winning the women's doubles title at the Hana Bank Korea Open in the Olympic Park Tennis Center in southern Seoul on Sunday. [NEWS1]

European pair Kristina Mladenovic of France and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium won the women's doubles title at the Hana Bank Korea Open on Sunday in two straight sets, beating top-seeded American pair Asia Muhammad and Sabrina Santamaria.

The first set started out close, with the first two games reaching deuces before the European pair won both. In a doubles match, all deuces are settled by a deciding point without an advantage.

After each exchanging their first breaks, the European pair took the upper hand, breaking the fourth game of the first set. From then on, Mladenovic and Wickmayer dominated the match, shutting out the American pair in the seventh game and ending the first set at 6-3.

The second set started with both pairs exchanging serves, but the tide once again turned to the Europeans as they took the opponents' third and fourth serves, quickly ending the second set 6-2. The match lasted an hour and nine minutes.

Sunday's win marks the first time that the European pair have won a trophy together. For Mladenovic and Wickmayer, ranked No. 135 and No. 470 in the women's doubles world rankings respectively, the win comes as some redemption after they both fell out of the singles event in the round of 16 on Thursday.

En route to the finals, Muhammad and Santamaria beat Korean pair Han Na-lae and Jang Su-jeong in a close one-hour-and-45 minute semifinal that was pushed to three sets and a tiebreaker on Saturday.

Mladenovic and Wickmayer had beaten third seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and Yana Sizikova on Friday in two straight sets to reach the finals.

"For me, this one is probably the most special one since it's the first one after being a mother," Wickmayer said on Sunday.

"I am very happy with this title and especially sharing this moment with my best friend on tour is very precious and a moment I will probably never forget. I'm just very thankful and grateful to be able to be here and win this title in front of so many fans, so I'm really enjoying this one."

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]