Article by Nikola Radovic

Doubles Joy for Jelena and Nadia

Jelena Dokic and Nadia Petrova won their new doubles title with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Rika Fujiwara and Ai Sugiyama.
Another match, another victory. A line extended well outside the stadium, as fans awaited entrance in the Dokic/ Petrova vs. Fujiwara/Sugiyama match. Inside the stadium, hordes of people scurried in between games to find seats.
In today's final, Jelena and Nadia had a very interesting and hard opponents. One of them was 27 years old Japanese tennis player Ai Sugiyama, ex No.1 in doubles who has won 20 doubles titles including 2 Grand Slams titles. Her last doubles title came in Memphis earlier this year where she was teamed up with miss Tatarkova.

The other opponent was 21 years old Rika Fujiwara who was a finalist at Canadian Open and Shanghai with Ai Sugiyama this year.

So obviously with these kind of results that these two have had, you have to respect them.

The match started with some great hard hitting, with many good rallies, much to the crowd's enjoyment. The seventh game of the first set proved to be a turning point. It was a bit of wake up for Jelena and Nadia to start moving better, which they did. Jelena and Nadia started to hit the ball harder. The balls were coming back very fast. Ai and Rika were slugging a little bit with their movement, they didn't get used to the balls. Jelena and Nadia went more for their shots, they placed their balls really deep. A few good net coverage and a nice placed volleys with a good baseline hitting gave them a break, and with a hold they won the first set 6-3.
Ai and Rika never really hit their peak, and seemed sluggish throughout the first set. While Jelena and Nadia set up successful doubles strategies point-by-point, Ai and Rika maintained little communication.

Playing with one set under their belts did not seem to make Jelena and Nadia's second set harder at all. They continued to play strong, matching Ai and Rika in each game.

Jelena and Nadia, still on a roll from winning the first set, took the lead and never looked back. They toured through their groundstrokes like a unexpected hurricane.

The third game proved to be a turning point. The scales continued to tip in Jelena/ Petrova's favor as the once patient Sugiyama continued to struggle into the second set. Jelena and Nadia started to mix it up along with plenty of slice and top spin winning five of the last six games. They started to use their trademark sharp angles more often. They engaged their opponents in several long rallies and also smacked some big winners from both sides.

At the end, Rika Fujiwara and Ai Sugiyama didn't have the weapon to harm Jelena and Nadia when it counted.

The new world idols took the match and the title 6-3, 6-2 to lift the trophy.