WTA Cincinnati - Hradecka/ Klepac vs. Groenefeld/ Schuurs

Going back to Cincinnati, it's semifinals day in singles and men's doubles. The day will be concluded by the women's doubles final, which is scheduled to be the last match on Center Court. Meeting up will be the Czech-Slovenian pairing Hradecka/ Klepac and German-Dutch duo Groenefeld/ Schuurs.

Partnership a twist of fate

After leaving her regular doubles partner Elise Mertens, which whom she reached the World Tour Finals last year, Demi Schuurs was set to play together with Bethanie Mattek-Sands in 2019. Suffering another setback because of her knee injury, the American had to stop playing again after the Australian Open though, leaving Schuurs without a partner yet again.

With German Anna-Lena Groenefeld facing the exact same situation, losing her partner Vania King after the Australian Open due to reoccurring problems with her ankle, the two doubles specialists gave it a go.

Groenefeld/ Schuurs clicking

What seemed like a unity of purpose at first sight quickly developed into a promising partnership. Groenefeld/ Schuurs already reached four finals together, at least one on each surface, only losing to Chan/ Chan in Doha, Azarenka/ Barty in Rome, Hsieh/ Strycova in Birmingham and Krejcikova/ Siniakova in Toronto last week.

Their opponents do not play together as frequently and had three consecutive first round losses heading into Cincinnati. While Hradecka has already had some great success in Cincinnati, winning the tournament in 2012 and 2018, I'm not sure she can win it for a third time together with Klepac. The Slovenian is arguably the worst hard court player of the four, having won less than 50% of her doubles matches on the surface. On a medium-fast Cincinnati court, lacking a bit of extra-power might be crucial.

More consistent pairing at underdog odds

As mentioned above, Groenefeld/ Schuurs only lost to top-notch opposition after the clay, Groenefeld's weakest surface, was finished. Hradecka/ Klepac on the contrary just won their first match together here after exiting in round one in Eastbourne, at Wimbledon and in Toronto. They were 5-6 coming into Cincinnati while Groenefeld/ Schuurs already had 21 wins and 10 losses under their belt.

Hradecka/ Klepac did get some solid wins here over Goerges/ Kerber, Kichenok/ Ostapenko and the Pliskova twins, but while both finalists were behind in the first set yesterday, I still rate Groenefeld/ Schuurs' win over Mattek-Sands/ Vandeweghe more highly than Hradecka/ Klepac' over the Pliskovas where they had to save 5 set points in the first set even though Karolina was mentally and physically fatigued after cracking in her singles quarterfinal against Kuznetsova.

So despite being on a good run here, they should not be the favorites in this matchup and I'm looking for Groenefeld/ Schuurs to finally win their first title together.