FORT WORTH, Texas -- Top seeds and defending champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are one win away from capping off their incredible season at the tour's biggest events.
Krejcikova and Siniakova advanced to their third WTA Finals championship match after defeating No.5 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko, 7-6(5), 6-2 in Sunday's semifinal. Already champions at the three majors they contested - Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open - Krejcikova and Siniakova are now 22-0 across this year's Slams and WTA Finals. They have lost just three matches all season.
The Czech duo will face No.4 seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, who have lost just one set in their WTA Finals team debut. Kudermetova and Mertens eased past No.8 seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs 6-1, 6-1 in just 56 minutes. The victory means three of the four players in Monday's final will have also faced off in last year's final in Guadalajara, where Krejcikova and Siniakova bested Mertens and Hsieh Su-Wei for the title.
Sweeping into the final 🏆
— wta (@WTA) November 7, 2022
[4] @elise_mertens and Kudermetova will face [1] Siniakova & Krejcikova in the doubles championship final!#WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/nOqer0Hhxq
Krejcikova and Siniakova are bidding to become the seventh different team to defend their WTA Finals title. They are now a win away from joining Martina Navratilova/Pam Shriver (1981-85, 1986-89), Gigi Fernandez/Natasha Zvereva (1993-94), Martina Hingis/Anna Kournikova (1999-00), Lisa Raymond/Samantha Stosur (2005-06), Cara Black/Liezel Huber (2007-08), and most recently, Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic (2018-19).
Krejcikova and Siniakova had won both of this year's meetings against Kichenok and Ostapenko at Wimbledon and Guadalajara. Continuing that trend, the Czechs jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first set before Kichenok and Ostapenko broke on a deciding point to close the gap to 5-3. After the Czechs failed to serve out the set twice, Kichenok and Ostapenko took the set to a tiebreak.
Again Krejcikova and Siniakova build a seemingly insurmountable lead at 4-0 before Kichenok and Ostapenko closed the gap to 6-5. But an errant volley from Ostapenko stalled their comeback and handed the Czechs the set after 63 minutes.
a BIG hold 😤@K_Siniakova | @BKrejcikova | #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/qIKV6HPClD
— wta (@WTA) November 6, 2022
Krejcikova and Siniakova raced away in the second set, opening up a quick 3-0 lead and closing out the match by breaking Kichenok in the final game.
With their progress in Fort Worth, Siniakova has assured herself the year-end Doubles No.1 ranking for a second consecutive season.