Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are one win away from completing the career Grand Slam.
The No.3 seeds from the Czech Republic moved into the US Open women’s doubles final Thursday night with a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 win against No.10 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Ellen Perez of Australia.
Krejcikova and Siniakova will face unseeded Caty McNally and Taylor Townsend for the title.
Former doubles World No.1 players Krejcikova and Siniakova have won five Grand Slam doubles titles together -- Roland Garros in 2018 and 2021, Wimbledon in 2018 and 2022, and the Australian Open in 2022 -- but they had never made the US Open final coming into this year.
That all changed with the Czechs’ 2-hour and 16-minute victory over Melichar-Martinez and Perez, one of the hottest teams of the summer. Melichar-Martinez and Perez had made the finals of their past three events, finishing runner-up at WTA 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati before winning the title in Cleveland.
But it was Krejcikova and Siniakova who converted seven of their 14 break points in their semifinal affair, while Melichar-Martinez and Perez were 3-for-7.
The quest for the career Grand Slam is alive.
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2022
🇨🇿s @BKrejcikova & @K_Siniakova are into the #USOpen final! pic.twitter.com/xsJ4iWkzPY
Krejcikova and Siniakova started off brilliantly, breaking their opponents in the first game via a Krejcikova return winner, and they raced to a 4-0 advantage en route to the one-set lead.
The Czechs fell behind 5-2 in the second set, but still nearly pulled off a straight-sets victory after coming all the way back into the tiebreak. However, Melichar-Martinez slammed a huge return to take a decisive 5-4 lead in the breaker, which was polished off with a Perez volley.
In the end, though, Krejcikova and Siniakova took charge in the decider, breaking Perez at love for a 2-1 lead. At 5-3, another big Krejcikova return gave the Czechs triple match point, and they converted the second of the trio with a Krejcikova forehand winner down the line.
Win or lose, Siniakova is projected to return to WTA Doubles World No.1 after the US Open.