09-Apr-2012 Nastia Wins 3rd Doubles Title

Anastasia claimed her third WTA doubles title when she and doubles partner Lucie Safarova defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova 5-7, 6-4, 10-6 in the final on Sunday. The match lasted one hour and 50 minutes.

The Russian-Czech duo rallied from a one-set deficit to win the match in the super tie-breaker round in the end.

"It's amazing," Safarova said after lifting the trophy. "Nastia and I got our first wildcard in Miami and made the quarters, and here we got our second wildcard and won it. I like doubles. I really enjoy playing doubles and it seems we fit as partners."

Garrigues and Shvedova were off to a great start as they broke in the third game and held their serve to go 3-1 ahead. Nastia and Lucie broke back in the sixth game but their opponents grabbed a decisive break in the 11th game to eventually take the set 7-5.

The second set began with an exchange of service breaks, followed by a series of holds utill 4-4. It was when Nastia and Lucie raised their game and took the next two games to level the match at one set apiece. The Russian-Czech pairing then raced through the super tie-breaker to close out at 10-6.

This was Anastasia's first title of the season.

Congratulations!

photo: Chris Smith, www.wtatour.com // Lucie Safarova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova went for a calm drive around the grounds afterwards.