Rome [Italy], May 18 : Coco Gauff and Erin Routliffe battled past Wang Xinyu and Zheng Saisai 6-3, 7-6(3) to seal a place in the Italian Open women's doubles final.
After registering the win in one hour and 28 minutes, Gauff and Routliffe will now take on Italian hopes Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini for the WTA 1000 title.
It was a difficult match for Gauff and Routliffe to defeat Wang and Zheng of China in the semifinals, especially in the erratic second set where ten of the twelve games went against serve.
Despite having a match point and serving for the match at 5-4, Gauff was unable to complete the victory. The set went into a tiebreak as Routliffe served for the match at 6-5 and had match point as well. However, Wang's winning lob on the decisive point ended the set.
In the tiebreaker, Gauff and Routliffe got back together and jumped out to an early 6-2 lead before winning on their fourth match point. When Gauff and Routliffe returned the Chinese pair's second serves, they won 13 of 16 points (83 percent).
Gauff is trying to improve on her performance from last year as she enters her second consecutive Rome final. Gauff and Jessica Pegula were Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens' runners-up in Rome last year.
Meanwhile, Centre Court action began with Errani and Paolini upsetting No. 8 seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals. In under sixty minutes, the all-Italian team advanced to the final on home ground.
In the semifinal match, Errani and Paolini had only one service loss in six of their eight return games.
"It's very special to be here in a final here in Rome with our crowd. We are very, very happy," Errani said as quoted by WTA.
"I think we played a really good match. We spoke before [about] what to do, and we did it very well. Was quite perfect," Errani added.
Paolini and Errani are the first Italians to advance to the Rome women's doubles final.
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