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Friday, January 27, 2023

AO.11/12 - The Day After the Day/The Day Before the Day










=DAY 12 NOTES=
...the first champions of this Australian Open were crowned on Friday, in MX, wheelchair and junior doubles.

The mixed doubles championship match took center stage on Laver, with India's Sania Mirza & Rohan Bopanna facing off with Brazilians Luisa Stefani & Rafael Matos.

There'd been celebration all around two days ago, when Mirza/Bopanna reached the final in what will be Mirza's slam farewell (she's still set to play a few tournaments before her official retirement), extending her competitive stay in Melbourne to the latest stage possible alongside the same player with whom she'd played her first MX doubles event (India's national championships) when she was just 14 and Bopanna 20. Now 36 and 42, respectively, both arrived in Melbourne with relatives and family in tow, including Mirza's four-year old son, who raced across the court to meet his mother after her semifinal victory.



Mirza came out firing her always-lethal (for almost two decades now) forehand early in the final, but Stefani/Matos managed to take the 1st in a TB, then claimed the 2nd at 6-2 to end the Indian legend's fairy tale run without a final *big* prize. For Stefani, who missed a year with a knee injury before returning late last season, it's her first career slam title. Since she returned last fall, Stefani has already won three tour WD titles (including in Adelaide in Week 2), a WTA 125 crown and a now a MX slam.



During her emotional address to the crowd after the match, Mirza noted that her slam journey will end in Melbourne, some 18 years after it began at the Australian Open in 2005, where she reached the 3rd Round as a wild card, falling to Serena Williams.



Mirza promptly won her maiden (and only) tour singles title (in 4 finals) a few weeks later in her home tournament in Hyderbad, India. Later that year, Mirza's star truly began to rise when she reached the U.S. Open Round of 16. It turned out to be her best career singles result at a major, as injuries eventually led to her becoming a doubles specialist a decade ago. She reached the doubles #1 ranking (an Indian first), and won 43 tour titles (w/ a "Sunshine Double" with Martina Hingis in '15), including three WD slams, three MX majors and a pair of WTAF crowns.



...the wheelchair doubles title went to the top-seeded Dutch pair of Diede de Groot & Aniek Van Koot, who won their third straight AO crown with a 6-3/6-2 win over #2 Yui Kamiji & Zhu Zhenzhen.



De Groot/Van Koot have won four of the last five slam crowns, and 13 overall as a team. It's slam WD title #16 for de Groot (w/ 16 WS) and #23 (extending her all-time women's WC record) for Van Koot (who has 3 more in singles).

De Groot and Kamiji are set to play in their 15th slam singles final against one another tomorrow. De Groot enters on an 81-match winning streak (28 straight in slams) as she seeks her ninth consecutive major title.

Over the same stretch since the start of '21, de Groot also won Paralympic Gold and a pair of WC Masters singles crowns as she's swept the last eleven biggest wheelchair singles titles on the calendar. As she tries to make it twelve straight, she's riding a 16-match winning streak over Kamiji, and is 12-2 vs. the world #2 in slam finals. Of note, though, Kamiji *has* forced de Groot to three sets in two of their last three meetings, in the finals of the U.S. Open and right before this AO in the Melbourne Open title match.

If de Groot gets the win it'll complete her 12th career slam s/d title sweep.

...the women's doubles final was set on Day 12, and #1 seeded defending champs Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova will be seeking their 7th overall slam crown, and fourth in their last four majors played (they missed last year's RG when Krejcikova tested positive for Covid). They're 6-1 in slam finals, playing in the AO final the last two years (1-1), and have won 23 straight matches in majors.

The Czechs defeated Marta Kostyuk & Gabriela Ruse in the first semifinal, while the other saw #10 Shuko Aoyama & Ena Shibahara defeat #2 Coco Gauff & Jessie Pegula. Winners of eight tour titles together from 2019-21, this is the first WD slam final for both Japanese women. Shibahara won the Roland Garros MX crown last year.

...in the girls singles, the Renaissance Hordettes are *still* on the hunt for hardware (and *will* get it), as #7 Mirra Andreeva and #9 Alina Korneeva both advanced to the final, setting up the fifth ever all-Russian girls slam singles final ('99 US, '02 WI, '10 US and '15 WI).



Andreeva defeated #13-seeded Brit Ranah Akua Stoiber, while Korneeva took out #12 Sayaka Ishii of Japan. With their losses, the drought of British girls' champs at the AO extends to 39 years (Annabel Croft '84), while the lone Japanese girls singles slam champ remains Kazuko Sawamatsu (1969 RG and WI).

Thus far, four times Hordettes have won the AO juniors -- 2006-07 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 2009 Ksenia Pervak, 2014 Elizaveta Kulichkova -- while the last to win at *any* of the majors was Anastasia Potapova at Wimbledon in 2016.

...the last final to be contested on Friday was the girls' doubles, as Renata Jamrichova & Federica Urgesi (SVK/ITA) defeated #4 Hayu Kinoshita & Sara Saito of Japan 7-6(5)/1-6 [10-7].





...SEMIFINAL #1...ON DAY 12 NIGHT 11:




In the first women's SF of Thursday's night session, #22 Elena Rybakina proved to the better player, but #24 Victoria Azarenka's (still sterling) return of serve helped to provide her with opportunities to push the Kazakh that the majority of her previous opponents in Melbourne (including two previous slam winners, one of them #1 Iga Swiatek) hadn't been able to produce.

Rybakina started the match with three aces in the opening game, but Azarenka, handling the Kazakh's power (hey, she *was* involved in some of Serena Williams' most hard-fought finals over the years, after all) got the break in game 5 to lead 3-2, only to drop serve in the following game. Rybakina served at 5-3 and held a SP, but Azarenka broke to extend the set.

With Rybakina for the first time having issues with her first serve, missing a slew of them down the stretch, Azarenka took a love/40 lead in game 11 and had three BP chances to have the opportunity to serve for the set. But she again wasn't able to put away the biggest points. Rybakina held to force a TB, where Azarenka's serve suddenly began to put *her* at a disadvantage. Rybakina quickly took a 5-2 lead. She dropped back-to-back points on serve, but then swept both of Azarenka's service points to take the breaker 7-4.

Rybakina got an early break in the 2nd at 2-1, and took control of the rest of the set, closing out Azarenka 6-3 to defeat a third consecutive former slam champ and reach her second major final in the last three slams.




...SEMIFINAL #2...ON DAY 12 NIGHT 11:

In the second semifinal, #5 Aryna Sabalenka once more showed what a difference a year can make, as her newly-found focus and restraint allowed her to weather the steady challenge provided by Magda Linette in the opening set, then kicked her game into another (higher) gear from there forward.



After falling behind 2-0 in the 1st, Sabalenka got the set back on serve with a break from 40/love down to reach 2-2. The Belarusian had little margin of error with the Pole playing relatively error-free tennis, turning Sabalenka's power into redirected shots down the line that kept the set on serve deep into the proceedings. But, down 6-5, it was Linette who very nearly stumbled, DF'ing to fall behind love/30 while serving to force a TB.

Sabalenka missed on a crosscourt forehand into an open court as Linette raced along the net in a futile attempt to catch up, just missing out on reaching SP. Linette ultimately got the hold on a net cord winner, but in the TB Sabalenka's power edge took hold. She overwhelmed Linette with her big shots, taking a 6-0 lead and winning 7-1.

Sabalenka carried over the burst into and throughout the 2nd set. Up 4-1, she saved a BP with an ace. She held three MP on Linette's serve at 5-1, but had a slight waver as she tried to cross over into her first career slam final. Sabalenka finally finished the Pole off on MP #4 on her own serve, winning 7-6/6-2 to become the latest to add her name to the AO's seemingly annual list of maiden slam finalists (this is the fourth straight year in which a newbie will play for the title in Melbourne).




...7 of 9...ON DAY 12:




...aka WHAT'S THE EASIEST WAY TO ENSURE THAT RUSSIAN PLAYERS ARE BANNED FROM WIMBLEDON AGAIN THIS YEAR?...ON DAY 12:



Really, I *think* he may have just been walking in and posed with people without really knowing what was on the flag.

Seriously, though, do you think that Wimbledon will want to have the possibility of even a little bit of this come summer?








=WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL=
#22 Elena Rybakina/KAZ vs. #5 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF=
#1 Krejcikova/Siniakova (CZE/CZE) def. Kostyuk/Ruse (UKR/ROU)
#10 Aoyama/Shibahara (JPN/JPN) def. #2 Gauff/Pegula (USA/USA)

=MIXED DOUBLES FINAL=
Stefani/Matos (BRA/BRA) def. Mirza/Bopanna (IND/IND) 7-6(2)/6-2

=WHEELCHAIR SINGLES FINAL=
#1 Diede de Groot/NED vs. #2 Yui Kamiji/JPN

=WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES FINAL=
#1 de Groot/Van Koot (NED/NED) def. #2 Kamiji/Zhu (JPN/CHN) 6-3/6-2

=GIRLS SINGLES SF=
#7 Mirra Andreeva/RUS def. #13 Ranah Akua Stoiber/GBR
#9 Alina Korneeva/RUS def. #12 Sayaka Ishii/JPN

=GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL=
Jamrichova/Urgesi (SVK/ITA) def. #4 Kinoshita/Saito (JPN/JPN) 7-6(5)/1-6 [10-7]

















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*ACTIVE SINGLES PLAYERS - FIRST SLAM FINAL*
1997 U.S. Open - Venus Williams
2004 U.S. Open - Svetlana Kuznetsova (W)
2010 Wimbledon - Vera Zvonareva
2011 Wimbledon - Petra Kvitova (W)
2012 Australian Open - Victoria Azarenka (W)
2012 Roland Garros - Sara Errani
2013 Wimbledon - Sabine Lisicki
2014 Roland Garros - Simona Halep
2014 Wimbledon - Genie Bouchard
2015 Wimbledon - Garbine Muguruza
2016 Australian Open - Angelique Kerber (W)
2016 U.S. Open - Karolina Pliskova
2017 Roland Garros - Alona Ostapenko (W)
2017 U.S. Open - Sloane Stephens (W)
2017 U.S. Open - Madison Keys
2018 U.S. Open - Naomi Osaka (W)
2019 Roland Garros - Marketa Vondrousova
2019 U.S. Open - Bianca Andreescu (W)
2020 Australian Open - Sofia Kenin (W)
2020 Roland Garros - Iga Swiatek (W)
2021 Australian Open - Jennifer Brady
2021 Roland Garros - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
2021 Roland Garros - Barbora Krejcikova (W)
2021 U.S. Open - Leylah Fernandez
2021 U.S. Open - Emma Raducanu (W)
2022 Australian Open - Danielle Collins
2022 Roland Garros - Coco Gauff
2022 Wimbledon - Ons Jabeur
2022 Wimbledon - Elena Rybakina (W)
2023 Australian Open - Aryna Sabalenka

*2020s - SLAM WS FINALS W/L - NATIONS*
5 - USA (1-4)
3 - POL (3-0)
2 - AUS (2-0)
2 - JPN (2-0)
2 - KAZ (1-0)*
2 - CZE (1-1)
2 - BLR (0-1)*
2 - TUN (0-2)
1 - GBR (1-0)
1 - CAN (0-1)
1 - ESP (0-1)
1 - RUS (0-1)

*SLAM FINALS IN 2020s*
3 - Iga Swiatek, POL (3-0)
2 - Ash Barty, AUS (2-0)
2 - Sofia Kenin, USA (1-1)
2 - Ons Jabeur, TUN (0-2)
2 - Naomi Osaka, JPN (2-0)
2 - ELENA RYBAKINA, KAZ (1-0)*
1 - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (0-1)
1 - Jennifer Brady, USA (0-1)
1 - Danielle Collins, USA (0-1)
1 - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (0-1)
1 - Coco Gauff, USA (0-1)
1 - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (1-0)
1 - Garbine Muguruza, ESP (0-1)
1 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (0-1)
1 - Karolina Pliskova, CZE (0-1)
1 - Emma Raducanu, GBR (1-0)
1 - ARYNA SABALENKA, BLR (0-0)*

*LOW-SEEDED AO CHAMPIONS - OPEN ERA*
Unseeded - 1978 Chris O'Neil, AUS
Unseeded - 2007 Serena Williams, USA
#14 - 2020 Sofia Kenin, USA
#12 - 2001 Jennifer Capriati, USA
#7 - 2016 Angelique Kerber, GER
#7 - 2005 Serena Williams, USA
#5 - 1979 Barbara Jordan, USA
#5 - 2008 Maria Sharapova, RUS
#4 - 1995 Mary Pierce, FRA
#4 - 1997 Martina Hingis, SUI
#4 - 2014 Li Na, CHN
#4 - 2019 Naomi Osaka, JPN
--
FINAL: #5 Sabalenka vs. #22 Rybakina

*"FIRST SLAM..." FEATS IN 2020s*
=F=
2020 AO - Sofia Kenin, USA (12th)
2020 RG - Iga Swiatek, POL (7th)
2021 AO - Jennifer Brady, USA (15th)
2021 RG - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (52nd)
2021 RG - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (5th)
2021 US - Leylah Fernandez, CAN (7th)
2021 US - Emma Raducanu, GBR (2nd)
2022 AO - Danielle Collins, USA (17th)
2022 RG - Coco Gauff, USA (10th)
2022 WI - Ons Jabeur, TUN (21st)
2022 WI - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (12th)
2023 AO - Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (20th)
=W=
2020 AO - Sofia Kenin, USA (12th)
2020 RG - Iga Swiatek, POL (7th)
2021 RG - Barbora Krejcikova, CZE (5th)
2021 US - Emma Raducanu, GBR (2nd)
2022 WI - Elena Rybakina, KAZ (12th)


*WHEELCHAIR SLAM DOUBLES TITLES*
23 - ANIEK VAN KOOT, NED [7-8-3-5]*
21 - Esther Vergeer, NED [7-5-3-6]
18 - Yui Kamiji, JPN [5-3-7-3]*
16 - DIEDE DE GROOT, NED [4-5-2-5]*
14 - Jiske Griffioen, NED [5-3-2-4]*
12 - Jordanne Whiley, GBR [3-2-5-2]
7 - Sharon Walraven, NED [2-1-2-2]

*AO WC DOUBLES CHAMPIONS*
2004 Classic 8's: Maaike Smit/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2005 Classic 8's: Florence Gravellier/Maaike Smit (FRA/NED)
2006 Classic 8's: Jiske Griffioen/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2007 Jiske Griffioen/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2008 Jiske Griffioen/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2009 Korie Homan/Esther Vergeer (NED/NED)
2010 Florence Gravellier/Aniek van Koot (FRA/NED)
2011 Esther Vergeer/Sharon Walraven (NED/NED)
2012 Esther Vergeer/Sharon Walraven (NED/NED)
2013 Jiske Griffioen/Aniek van Koot (NED/NED)
2014 Yui Kamiji/Jordanne Whiley (JPN/GBR)
2015 Yui Kamiji/Jordanne Whiley (JPN/GBR)
2016 Marjolein Buis/Yui Kamiji (NED/JPN)
2017 Jiske Griffioen/Aniek van Koot (NED/NED)
2018 Marjolein Buis/Yui Kamiji (NED/JPN)
2019 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)
2020 Yui Kamiji/Jordanne Whiley (JPN/GBR)
2021 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)
2022 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)
2023 Diede de Groot/Aniek Van Koot (NED/NED)

*RECENT AO "Ms. OPPORTUNITY" WINNERS*
2013 Sloane Stephens, USA
2014 Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
2015 Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
2016 Johanna Konta, GBR
2017 CoCo Vandeweghe, USA
2018 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2019 Danielle Collins, USA
2020 Sofia Kenin, USA
2021 Jennifer Brady, USA and Karolina Muchova, CZE
2022 Danielle Collins, USA
2023 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR and Magda Linette, POL

*RECENT AO "COMEBACK PLAYER" WINNERS*
2015 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2016 Andrea Hlavackova & Lucie Hradecka, CZE/CZE
2017 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, CRO
2018 Angelique Kerber, GER
2019 Petra Kvitova, CZE
2020 CiCi Bellis, USA
2021 Rebecca Marino, CAN
2022 Madison Keys, USA
2023 Donna Vekic, CRO and Luisa Stefani, BRA

*RECENT AO "JUNIOR BREAKOUT" WINNERS*
2013 Ana Konjuh, CRO
2014 Elizaveta Kulichkova, RUS
2015 Tereza Mihalikova, SVK
2016 Sara Tomic, AUS
2017 Marta Kostyuk, UKR
2018 Liang En-shuo, TPE
2019 Clara Tauson/DEN and Anastasia Tikhonova/RUS
2020 Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, AND
2022 Angella Okutoyi/KEN and Meshkatolzahra Safi/IRA
2023 Mirra Andreeva/RUS and Alina Korneeva/RUS

*RECENT MX SLAM CHAMPIONS*
[2018]
AO: Gaby Dabrowski/Mate Pavic (CAN/CRO)
RG: Latisha Chan/Ivan Dodig (TPE/CRO)
WI: Nicole Melichar/Alexander Peya (USA/AUT)
US: Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Jamie Murray (USA/GBR)
[2019]
AO: Barbora Krejcikova/Rajeev Ram (CZE/USA)
RG: Latisha Chan/Ivan Dodig (TPE/CRO)
WI: Latisha Chan/Ivan Dodig (TPE/CRO)
US: Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Jamie Murray (USA/GBR)
[2020]
AO: Barbora Krejcikova/Nikola Mektic (CZE/CRO)
[2021]
AO: Barbora Krejcikova/Rajeev Ram (CZE/USA)
RG: Desirae Krawczyk/Joe Salisbury (USA/GBR)
WI: Desirae Krawczyk/Neal Skupski (USA/GBR)
US: Desirae Krawczyk/Joe Salisbury (USA/GBR)
[2022]
AO: Kristina Mladenovic/Ivan Dodig (FRA/CRO)
RG: Ena Shibahara/Wesley Koolhof (JPN/NED)
WI: Desirae Krawczyk/Neal Skupski (USA/GBR)
US: Storm Sanders/John Peers (AUS/AUS)
[2023]
AO: Luisa Stefani/Rafael Matos (BRA/BRA)

*ALL-RUSSIAN JR. SLAM SINGLES FINALS*
1999 US: Lina Krasnoroutskaya def. Nadia Petrova
2002 WI: Vera Zvonareva def. Maria Sharapova
2010 US: Dasha Gavrilova def. Yulia Putintseva
2015 WI: Sofya Zhuk def. Anna Blinkova
2023 AO: Mirra Andreeva vs. Alina Korneeva

*RECENT GIRLS DOUBLES SLAM CHAMPIONS*
[2018]
AO: Liang En-Shuo/Wang Xinyu (TPE/CHN)
RG: Caty McNally/Iga Swiatek (USA/POL)
WI: Wang Xinyu/Wang Xiyu (CHN/CHN)
US: Coco Gauff/Caty McNally (USA/USA)
[2019]
AO: Natsumi Kawaguchi/Adrienn Nagy (JPN/HUN)
RG: Chloe Beck/Emma Navarro (USA/USA)
WI: Savannah Broadus/Abigail Forbes (USA/USA)
US: Kamilla Bartone/Oksana Selekhmetova (LAT/RUS)
[2020]
AO: Alex Eala/Priska Madelyn Nugroho (PHI/INA)
RG: Eleonora Alvisi/Lisa Pigoti (ITA/ITA)
[2021]
RG: Alex Eala/Oksana Selekmeteva (PHI/RUS)
WI: Kristina Dmitruk/Diana Shnaider (BLR/RUS)
US: Ashlyn Krueger/Robin Montgomery (USA/USA)
[2022]
AO: Clervie Ngounoue/Diana Shnaider (USA/RUS)
RG: Sara Bejlek/Lucie Havlickova (CZE/CZE)
WI: Rose Marie Nijkamp/Angella Okutoyi (NED/KEN)
US: Lucie Havlickova/Diana Shnaider (CZE/RUS)
[2023]
AO: Renata Jamrichova/Federica Urgesi (SVK/ITA)






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Future Paralympian...




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TOP QUALIFIER: Katherine Sebov/CAN
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Jessie Pegula/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #22 Elena Rybakina/KAZ
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2 - #27 Brenda Fruhvirtova/CZE def. Daria Snigur/UKR 5-7/7-6(3)/6-3 (rallies from 7-5/5-1, break down twice early in the 3rd; 15-year old is youngest in AO MD in slam debut)
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - #6 Maria Sakkari/GRE def. (Q) Diana Shnaider/RUS 6-3/5-7/3-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): WD 2r - Kolodziejova/Vondrousova (CZE/CZE) def. #7 Haddad Maia/Zhang (BRA/CHN) 3-6/7-6(9)/7-6(12) - saved 9 MP; trailed 5-0, 40/love in 3rd
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/WC/Doub.): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #3 Jessie Pegula/USA (def. Jaqueline Cristian/ROU)
FIRST SEED OUT: #28 Amanda Anisimova/USA (1r-lost to Kostyuk/UKR)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Anna Bondar/HUN, Olivia Gadecki/AUS, Diana Shnaider/RUS, Lucrezia Stefanini/ITA
BEST PROTECTED RANKING MD RESULT: Laura Siegemund/GER, Marketa Vondrousova/CZE (both 3rd Rd.)
UPSET QUEENS: UKR
REVELATION LADIES: CZE (three youngest players in MD)
NATION OF POOR SOULS: GER (1-4 1r; Petkovic ret., Kerber pregnant; NextGen 0-2)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Cristina Bucsa/ESP and Katie Volynets/USA (both 2nd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Kimberly Birrell/AUS, Olivia Gadecki/AUS, Taylor Townsend/USA (all 2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Kimberly Birrell, Olivia Gadecki (both 2nd Rd.)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: Aryna Sabalenka/BLR and Magda Linette/POL
IT (Czech Crusher): Linda Fruhvirtova, CZE (into second week at age 17 in second major)
COMEBACK PLAYER: Donna Vekic/CRO and Luisa Stefani/BRA
CRASH & BURN: Garbine Muguruza/ESP (1r; 5 con. losses; out of Top 80 first time in a decade)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Miriam Kolodziejova/Marketa Vondrousova, CZE/CZE (2r: down 5-0, 40/love in 3rd; saved 9 MP vs. Haddad Maia/Zhang; won 14-12 MTB)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: Sania Mirza/IND Additional nominee: Kamiji
LADY OF THE EVENING: Victoria Azarenka/BLR
AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE ARTS AWARD: One year after Barty is first WS champ in 44 years, #160 Fourlis is highest ranked AUS in MD; only two AUS wild cards get 1r wins, none past 2r
DOUBLES STAR: Nominees: Krejicikova/Siniakova, Aoyama/Shibahara
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Mirra Andreeva/RUS and Alina Korneeva/RUS





All for Day 12. More on Saturday after the final.
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