Tiebreak thrills and last-minute wins shape doubles semis in Riyadh

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Sitting in the players’ lounge on Wednesday afternoon, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez chatted amiably about doubles, to this point, their lives’ work. 

You would never have known their future at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF was hanging precariously in the balance -- completely beyond their control. In their final group match, they torched top seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko 6-1, 6-3, but they wouldn’t learn if they advanced to Friday’s semifinals for another seven hours.

“We did the best we could,” Perez said, stoically. “If the best is not good enough, I’m OK with it.”

WTA Finals Riyadh: Scores | Schedule | Standings

Melichar-Martinez nodded and added, “Nobody really expected us to win two matches in this group.  All the other teams were more heavily favored. If our season ends here, we ended with a win -- and not many people can say that.”

Naturally, the late-night doubles match went the distance. No.8 seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, the reigning Wimbledon champions, needed a 10-8 match-tiebreak to knock out No.3 Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens.

And so, Melichar-Martinez and Perez -- who lost in last year’s final at the WTA Finals in Cancun -- were still alive. When, in the very last of the 24 group matches on Thursday night, the team of Chan Hao-Ching and Veronika Kudermetova defeated Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in another match-tiebreak, Friday’s semifinals were set:

No.2 Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe (3-0) vs. No.6 Melichar-Martinez and Perez (2-1), and No.7 Chan and Kudermetova (2-1) vs. No.8 Siniakova and Townsend (3-0).

While there’s been a lot of attention on the battle for singles No.1 between Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, this is only the fourth time they’ve qualified in singles for the year-end event.

We say only, because the four semifinal teams have a collective 27 qualifications for the WTA Finals -- and that doesn’t include selections as alternates. Maybe that’s why there were a rollicking seven match tiebreaks.

Melichar-Martinez, a well-traveled 31-year-old American coached by her husband, Carlos, has qualified four different times with three different partners, Kveta Peschke, Demi Schuurs and Perez. Twice she was an alternate.

“I played in Singapore, and I was an alternate in Shenzhen,” Melichar-Martinez said. “I played in Guadalajara and Cancun and was an alternate in Fort Worth. Now I’m here -- so I’ve been to six different venues.”

In her mind, the best experiences were in Singapore and here in Riyadh.

“Although,” she said, “the money here is the best.”

Indeed, the total prize money is a record $15.25 million. While Melichar-Martinez and Peschke each took home $40,000 in Singapore, she and Perez are already up to $280,000. A semifinal win would net them another $255,000 and a win in the final would bring their totals to a (very) cool $1.055 million.

Some more doubles food for thought:

• Mertens, like Melichar-Martinez, played in her sixth WTA Finals. She’s qualified with five different partners -- Schuurs, Kudermetova, Storm Hunter, a 21-year-old Sabalenka and Hsieh in 2021. Mertens and Hsieh reached the final three years ago in Guadalajara and were reunited in Riyadh.
• Barbora Krejcikova qualified in singles for the second time, but she also has five previous appearances in doubles. In 2021, she and current World No.1 Siniakova won this title in Guadalajara.
• At 37, Errani has enjoyed a renaissance this season, winning the doubles gold medal at the Paris Olympics with Paolini, as well as titles in Rome, Beijing and Linz. In 2012 and 2013, she qualified in both singles and doubles in Istanbul and, a year later, with Roberta Vinci in Singapore. After a 10-year absence, she returned to the WTA Finals.

The most frenetic match so far might have been the one that saw Dabrowski and Routliffe save a match point against the Italian team, win the final three points and survive 1-6, 7-6(1), [11-9].

Two days later, after they ran their record to 3-0 with another super-tiebreak win over Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk, they replayed those three points with total recall and a giddy enthusiasm: two big serves from Routliffe that Errani and Paolini couldn’t handle, two backhands from Dabrowski to close it out.

New Zealand’s Routliffe, 29, is ranked No.2 in doubles, while Dabrowski, a 32-year-old Canadian, is No.5. A year ago, they lost to Melichar-Martinez and Perez in the Cancun semifinals.

“Riyadh’s been great,” Dabrowski said. “Everyone has been super helpful, super smiley, happy to have us.”

And then there’s that prize money. Neither player professed to know exactly what the payouts were, and their eyes widened when they heard the numbers.

“Hmm,” Routliffe said, “I might buy myself something nice. Like a bag? But we’re trying to be financially responsible adults.”

“We’re still on doubles prize money,” Dabrowski said, “so we need to put it away.”

Melichar-Martinez and Perez, too, are thrilled about the boost in prize money.

“Being able to set yourself up for the year, being able to invest in yourself is great,” Perez said.

Melichar-Martinez has a more specific goal.

“Every week, you’re playing for something,” she said. “You know, I’ve got a tax bill coming up.

“I have hurricane damage. I need a new roof.”