Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova, in their first full-year on tour together as a pair, has successfully qualified for the year-ending WTA Finals held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium after some solid and consistent results achieved throughout the year. This will be Hradecka’s fourth appearance at the elite tournament while Siniakova will be making her debut in Singapore.
Results this year
Having paired up permanently at the start of the year, it has been an incredible feat that the all-Czech pairing managed to qualify for the elite tournament at their first attempt. Ironically, they had the worst possible start to their partnership as they fell at the first hurdle at their first ever tournament played together, falling to Anna-Lena Gronefeld and Kveta Peschke in the opening round of the Australian Open as the 10th seeds.
Nonetheless, they immediately bounced back from the disappointing loss and reached the final in Taipei City, but failed to get their hands on the trophy as they lost to home favorites Chan Hao-ching/Chan Yung-jan in straight sets. Another poor performance followed in Dubai but there was a rainbow after the storm as they achieved an incredible result in Indian Wells next.
Defeating quality pairings like the defending WTA Finals champion and Olympics Gold Medalists Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina along the way, they reached their second final in three months but were still unable to claim the piece of silverware after falling to Chan Yung-jan and Martina Hingis in the final.
Falling to Chan and Hingis in a rematch of their final in the opening round of the Miami Open, it was another poor tournament for the Czechs. Nonetheless, their first-round exits are always a premonition of what would happen next as they stormed to their third final at the Volvo Car Open, falling to then-world number ones Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova in three tight sets.
Losing their fourth final of the year in their hometown, Prague, Hradecka and Siniakova capped off their clay court season with a semifinal appearance at Roland Garros, defeating Makarova and Vesnina along the way.
Although their following results were relatively disappointing as they won just two of their next six matches, a rout that finally ended at the US Open. Handed a tough draw, Hradecka and Siniakova defied all odds, outplaying three seeded pairings as they came out of nowhere to reach their first Grand Slam final together. However, they were runner-ups to Chan/Hingis for the third time this year, losing their fifth final of the year.
Qualifying for the first time as a pair: A successful year for the Czechs
Their impressive results this year allowed them to be the fourth pair on tour to qualify for the WTA Finals, a tournament only played by the best of the best. Certainly, they were delighted with their qualification, with Siniakova mentioning, “We’ve had an incredible year and we are beyond happy to have made the WTA Finals in Singapore. We hope to end the season on a high and capture the title in front of the amazing fans at the Singapore Sports Hub.”
Hradecka, who is considered a veteran on tour, was excited at her opportunity to compete for the title once again, “I’m so excited to have qualified for the WTA Finals for the fourth time – it’s such a prestigious event, and I have great memories of the tournament and Singapore.”
The 2017 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global would kick off on the 22nd of October, with the doubles competition being a knockout format with teams having the play their best from their first match onwards.