A review of the Aussie pair’s women’s doubles fantastic performances at the 2013 Grand Slam tournaments.
Although they’ve only been regularly competing together in doubles since late 2012 Ash Barty and Casey Dellacqua have quickly become an effective team. This is even more impressive given Barty’s age (currently 17) and the limited number of tournaments that she can enter under WTA age restrictions.
Added to their impressive results this year which include making three grand slam finals, they’re both really down to earth and likeable, making them a great asset to Australian tennis.
Early in their partnership the pair won the ITF Toyota doubles in Toyota, Japan (November 2012).
2013 Grandslam Tournaments
Australian Open – Finalists
As a wildcard entry they made the final, defeated by Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Read how much prize money they won.
Route to the final
- Round 1: d Hercog/Schiavone 6-2, 6-4
- Round 2: d Kirilenko/Raymond 6-4, 6-4
- Round 3: d Grandin/Uhlirova 7-6, 6-3
- Quarterfinals: d Pavlyuchenkova/Safarova 6-2, 6-3
- Semi-finals: d Lepchenko/ Zheng 6-2, 6-4
French Open – Defeated in Round 1
Despite being seeded 14th they were defeated in round 1 by Barthel/Dekmeijere 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Wimbledon – Finalists
Barty and Dellacqua won their first WTA tour doubles event at the Aegon Classic, Birmingham, UK. During this grass court lead up event to Wimbledon they defeated Black/Erakovic 7-5, 6-4.
The pair were seeded 12th for Wimbledon 2013. They made it to their second Grand Slam final of the year where they were defeated by Hsieh/Peng 7-6, 6-1.
Route to the final
- Round 1: d Soloveyva/Zanevska 6-2, 7-5
- Round 2: d Moulton-Levy/Zhang 6-3, 6-2
- Round 3: d Kops-Jones/Spears 6-4, 6-1
- Quarterfinals: d Hlavackova/Hradecka 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
- Semi-finals: d Groenefeld/Peschke 7-6, 6-2
US Open – Finalists
Seeded 8th at the US Open the pair lost the final in three sets to Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka.
Route to the final
- Round 1: d Cirstea/Wickmeyer 6-4, 6-1
- Round 2: d Cetkovska/Flipkens 6-3, 6-4
- Round 3: d Huber/Llagostera Vivas 6-4, 6-3
- Quarterfinals: d Makarova/Vesnina 6-2, 6-3
- Semi-finals: d Mirza/Zheng 6-2, 6-2
Making three grand slam finals in a year is a massive feat, well done gals!
Until next time
Grand Slam Gal