Dulko & Pennetta claim Doha doubles crown

 

Originally published on: 01/11/10 10:38

Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta polished off their fine 2010 season with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik to claim the doubles crown at the prestigious WTA Championships in Doha.

Making their first appearance at the season-ending showpiece, the Argentinian-Italian pair won their seventh trophy of the year – their latest reward for a continuingly blossoming partnership.

“It feels amazing,” said Dulko, who rose to No.1 in the individual rankings by virtue of their triumph. “When we started playing together this year, we never thought we would end the year like this.

“We’re very proud of the hard work we’ve put in. And to share this with Flavia is very special – we started playing doubles because we are best friends, and the happiness is double.”

Click here to see our snaps of Pennetta & Dulko’s Doha triumph

Pennetta, currently ranked 25 places above Dulko in the singles ladder at world No.23, echoed her partner’s sentiments.

“We just started playing together because we are friends and love to play together and we never thought we would end up in this position,” Pennetta said.

“To have the chance to play a sport with one of your best friends is the nicest thing in the world. We are really happy and proud. We can’t believe it yet.”

Defeated duo Srebotnik and Peschke had both featured in the WTA Championships several times before with different partners – Peschke finished a runner-up with Rennae Stubbs in 2008 while Srebotnik achieved the same with Ai Sugiyama a year earlier – but remained upbeat despite defeat.

“We’re very happy despite the loss today,” Srebotnik said. “We felt this would be our title but we have to give credit to Gisela and Flavia, they played so well and no doubt deserve it. The better team won today. We are happy to have been in the final though – it was really a great achievement for us.”

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