The team of Alexandra Panova and Olga Danilovic takes on Cristina Bucsa & Bibiane Schoofs in the finals of the doubles event in the 2023 Lyon Open on Sunday.
In the round of 16, Alexandra Panova and Olga Danilovic came back from a set down to defeat the team of Lidziya Marozava and Vivian Heisen and won the match 2-6, 6-2, 10-5. Panova and Danilovic advanced into the semifinals after the third-seeded team of Alicia Barnett and Natela Dzalamidze pulled out prior to the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, the Russian-Serbian duo ousted the second-seeded team of Makoto Ninomiya and Nadiia Kichenok in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Panova and Danilovic were exceptional with their serves as they had a win percentage of 85 on the first serve and fired in 3 aces without committing any double faults. They will hope to use their serves to good effect in the finals as well.
The Dutch-Spanish duo of Bibiane Schoofs and Cristina Bucsa has shown a lot of grit and determination and defeated a couple of seeded teams en route to the finals.
In the round of 16, Cristina Bucsa and Bibiane Schoofs fought back after dropping the first set against Ingrid Gamarra Martins and Angela Kulikov. The match eventually ended 5-7, 6-4, 10-6 in favor of Bucsa and Schoofs. In the quarterfinals, Zhang Shuai and Alycia Parks were outplayed by Bucsa and Schoofs. The 2nd-seeded team came back to win a tightly-contested second set. In the decisive third set, Bucsa and Schoofs came out positively and eventually won the match 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 10-2. The semifinals saw Bucsa and Schoofs take on the 4th-seeded team of Viktorija Golubic and Monica Niculescu. The match turned out to be quite competitive but Bucsa and Schoofs won it 6-4, 3-6, 10-8.
Prediction: Cristina Bucsa and Bibiane Schoofs to win in three sets.
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