Casey Dellacqua’s run with Kimiko Date-Krumm in the doubles event at the BNP Paribas Open has come to an end at the hands of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
In a tightly-contested semifinal, Dellacqua and Date-Krumm fell to the Russian fourth seeds in a match tiebreak, 4-6 7-6(4) [10-8].
It was the Aussie-Japanese pairing’s first ever loss – Dellacqua and Date-Krumm had first combined earlier this year in Pattaya, Thailand, going on to win the title and improving their winning streak to seven matches with their semifinal run in the Californian desert.
The match took place on Stadium 1, moved to the tournament’s premier court after both women’s singles quarterfinals were not played due to Sam Stosur’s and Victoria Azarenka’s injuries.
And the four women gave the crowd their money’s worth, producing a tense battle that extended for almost two hours.
Although they broke serve on one less occasion, Makarova and Vesnina created 12 break point opportunities, constantly applying pressure to the serves of Dellacqua and Date-Krumm.
The Russians were also the superior servers, delivering four aces to none and winning a higher percentage of points behind their first deliveries.
In a match that was so evenly-poised, these stats proved the decisive factors in the Russians’ victory.
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