Top seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok & Jelena Ostapenko failed to make the cut in the Green Group doubles on Wednesday at the WTA Finals presented by PIF, ousted by Nicole Melichar-Martinez & Ellen Perez, the No 6 seeds, who moved into the semi-finals boosted by their 6-1 6-3 win over the Ukrainian/Latvia team.

We made a lot of first serves, and were able to jam them up pretty well. We kept really positive and energetic, and that was the goal for the match – just to stay upbeat. Ellen Perez

America’s Melichar-Martinez & Perez from Australia, last year’s WTA Finals runners-up, finished the round-robin stage of the doubles competition with a 2-1 record.

Later in the day, Melichar-Martinez & Perez’s path to the semis was confirmed when Czech Katerina Siniakova & Taylor Townsend from the USA, the 8th seeds, squeaked past Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei & Elise Mertens from Belgium, 3-6 6-3 [10-8], the No 3 seeds, in the last Green Group match on Wednesday evening.

Siniakova and Townsend, who are the reigning Wimbledon champions, had already qualified for the semi-finals on Monday, and they emerged as the undefeated Green Group winners with their come-back win over this year’s Australian Open champions, Hsieh & Mertens.

Had Hsieh & Mertens held on for that win, they would have topped the Green Group, and pushed Siniakova & Townsend into 2nd place, and eliminated Melichar-Martinez & Perez, but, instead, the 3rd seed’s week ends in the group stages.

© Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for WTA

Melichar-Martinez & Perez survived, though, powering past Kichenok & Ostapenko in straight sets and levelling their head-to-head at two wins apiece, taking both of their 2024 encounters following their victory in the Indian Wells quarter-finals.

Kichenok & Ostapenko got off to a disastrous start, dropping serve courtesy of 2 Kichenok volley misses and consecutive Ostapenko double-faults.

It set the tone for a first set and the Ukrainian-Latvian pair never really recovered, and their unforced errors accounted for 18 out of the 26 points won by Melichar-Martinez & Perez.

The second set was slightly more competitive, but once Melichar-Martinez & Perez broke Kichenok’s serve for 2-1, the American-Australian duo were able to maintain that lead to the finish line, wrapping up the win in just 59 minutes.

Kichenok & Ostapenko finished with 34 unforced errors, outweighing their 13 winners, while Melichar-Martinez & Perez tallied 8 winners and 12 miscues.

“Our first couple of matches, the first one was topsy-turvy, and the second was meh,” said Melichar-Martinez afterwards. “Today we really focused, and, if it’s our last match here, at least we end on a high.”

Perez added that their tactics and team spirit had been spot on.

“We made a lot of first serves, and were able to jam them up pretty well,” she said. “We kept really positive and energetic, and that was the goal for the match – just to stay upbeat.”

Katerina Siniakova & Taylor Townsend edged past Hsieh Su-Wei & Elise Mertens in the match tiebreak on Wednesday evening at the King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh

© Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

US Open champions Kichenok & Ostapenko finish their 2nd WTA Finals appearance with a 0-3 round-robin record, having held match point over Siniakova & Townsend in their opening contest.

8th-seeded Siniakova & Townsend finished the group stage with a 3-0 record, but it was not without its difficulties as they had to save a match point before outlasting Kichenok & Ostapenko in their first match of the event.

Then, on Wednesday night, Siniakova & Townsend needed to overcome the loss of the first set, barreling through the second to reach the match tiebreak, where they led 8-2, but Hsieh & Mertens pulled it all the way back to 8-7 before the Czech/American pair could clinch the win after an hour and 26 minutes.

Newly-crowned doubles World No 1 Katerina Siniakova & Taylor Townsend finished the group stage with a 3-0 record after beating Hsieh Su-Wei & Elise Mertens at the WTA Finals

© Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for WTA