No.2 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara moved to 1-0 within the Teochtitlán group after defeating No.7 seeds Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac 6-0, 6-4 of their debut on the Akron WTA Finals Guadalajara.
The Japanese pair already lead the tour in doubles titles this season, capturing 5 throughout all three surfaces. Their most prestigious title got here on the exhausting courts of the Miami Open in April. Aoyama and Shibahara are the fifth and sixth Japanese ladies to qualify for the season-ending championships, becoming a member of Kimiko Date, Rika Fujiwara, Ai Sugiyama, and Naomi Osaka.
“We began very effectively and [Ena] had a very good return at the moment,” Aoyama stated on court docket. “She helped me and I attempted to provide my all.”
The match started ominously for Jurak and Klepac, as Aoyama/Shibahara reeled off the primary eight factors of the match and raced via the opening set with out shedding a recreation. At 5-0, Klepac obtained remedy on her decrease again and hip from the coach.
Klepac/Jurak responded to the opening bagel set by breaking early within the second set, main 2-1. However Aoyama and Shibahara performed the deuce deciding factors extremely effectively on today, as they broke proper again to degree the second set.
Each groups would proceed to carry serve via the subsequent 5 video games earlier than Aoyama and Shibahara took benefit of their opponents’ shaky netplay to earn a match level at 5-4. Jurak couldn’t shut out her service recreation from 30-0 up and the Japanese duo closed out the win after prevailing on a deciding level.
“We felt actually good popping out at the moment,” Shibahara stated. “They’re such a tricky group. We had a tricky match towards them in Chicago. We knew what we needed to do to win at the moment and we did effectively.”
Aoyama/Shibahara mixed for five aces within the match in comparison with their opponents’ one, and went 6 for 9 on break factors towards the Jurak/Klepac serve.
Extra to come back…
