Canada's Fichman wins women's doubles title with Mexico's Olmos at Italian Open
Toronto native picks up 4th career doubles title winning by score of 4-6, 7-5, 10-5
Canada's Sharon Fichman and Mexican partner Giuliana Olmos defeated Kristina Mladenovic of France and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 7-5, 10-5 in the Italian Open women's doubles final on Sunday.
Down 4-5 in the second set, Olmos and Fichman saved two match points before breaking Mladenovic's serve and taking the next two games to force a match tiebreak.
"There are no words to explain what it means to me," Fichman said. "I'm so grateful and I'm so proud of myself and my partner and my fiance. He's been with us all week. I'm so proud of us as a team. Then the crowd support, it's so nice to be able to play in front of fans. We haven't been able to get it very often. They were just awesome.
"They gave us that lift we needed and pumped us up when we didn't really feel like getting pumped up. I'm so happy to be able to win this tournament and to do it in front of such a wonderful crowd."
WATCH | Canadian Sharon Fichman rolls to doubles title in Rome:
Fichman and Olmos, who started playing together this season, entered the field as alternates after Ash Barty and Jennifer Brady withdrew from the doubles draw.
They beat top-seeded Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens in the second round and fourth-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara in a weather-delayed semifinal earlier Sunday.
It was Fichman's fourth career doubles title and her first WTA 1000 crown. Her last tournament victory came in 2020 when she won the Monterrey doubles title with Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Olmos has won three career doubles titles.
Fichman, a 30-year-old right-hander from Toronto, started the week in the No. 50 position on the WTA Tour's women's doubles rankings list.
Double bagel: Swiatek routs Pliskova in Italian Open final
If Iga Swiatek continues playing like this, she might have no problem defending her French Open title when the year's second Grand Slam starts in two weeks.
The 19-year-old Pole routed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 with what is known as a "double bagel" score in an Italian Open final that lasted just 46 minutes Sunday.
Swiatek lost just 13 points.
"Definitely not the best day for me," Pliskova said. "Iga was playing great tennis today."
WATCH | Swiatek cruises to win over Pliskova to win Rome Open title:
It was the first double bagel in a WTA final in five years, since Simona Halep overwhelmed Anastasija Sevastova in Bucharest.
"I think you have just days like this in tennis where things are not going your way," Pliskova added. "I will just quickly forget about today."
Blasting winners at will with both her forehand and backhand, Swiatek led 17-5 in winners and committed only five unforced errors to Pliskova's 23.
It wasn't always so easy this week for Swiatek, the surprise winner in Paris last year when she was ranked 54th.
She had to save two match points in her third-round victory over Barbora Krejcikova then had to win twice on Saturday — beating both two-time Rome champion Elina Svitolina and 17-year-old Coco Gauff — after her quarter-final was pushed back a day due to rain.
Swiatek's third career title will move her into the top 10 of the rankings for the first time on Monday — to No. 9.
Pliskova was playing in her third consecutive final at the Foro Italico, having won the title in 2019. The veteran Czech player slammed her racket to the clay in frustration early in the second set and received a code violation warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.
With files from The Associated Press
