Aussie duo enter Championships in form

Aussie duo Sam Stosur and Rennae Stubbs will enter the prestigious season-ending WTA Championships with confidence, as both doubles specialists captured titles in the final month of the Tour’s regular season leading into Madrid.

Despite a four month drought without winning a title, Stosur and full-time American partner Lisa Raymond have returned to some of their best form and are keen to defend their Madrid title from 2005.

The world No.1 Australian-American pairing became the first team to qualify for the Championships in September on the back of six season titles, but were forced to wait four months from their French Open triumph in June before tasting a Tour victory again when they beat Stubbs and Cara Black in the final at Stuttgart in October.

Since then, Stosur and Raymond have captured their eighth and ninth titles in Linz and Hasselt – their last two events – to give themselves the momentum and confidence to win their third straight tournament and finish the year on the highest of notes.

“It feels great to qualify again for the Sony Ericsson Championships,” Raymond said on behalf of the team in September. “To be the first team to do that this year is even more of an honour. We’re really motivated to defend our title in Madrid this year.”

Stubbs and regular Zimbabwean doubles partner Black became the third team to qualify for the WTA Championships after capturing their 11th Tour doubles title together and the second for the season at the Zurich Open in late October.

The veteran combination will be hoping that they can combine their recent form with their vast experience at the event to resurrect last year’s disappointing finals loss.

The Australian-Zimbabwean team blew a 7-6(5) 5-2 lead in the 2005 Madrid final against eventual champions Stosur and Raymond and were left to rue the one that got away.

However, after waiting eight months for their first title together in 2006 and despite being proud to reach the season-ending event, , the 2004 Wimbledon champions are also hungry to do well.

“It’s nice to know that we’re part of the season-ending championships again this year,” said Stubbs after confirming their qualification. “We’re definitely looking forward to Madrid.”

Unlike their peers in the singles event, the world’s top four WTA pairings begin their campaigns in the semi-finals where they will play for a spot in the Championship decider.

The world’s No.1 and No.3 teams will be joined by the Chinese duo of Zi Yan and Zheng Jie, reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champions and second in the Championship race, and the No.4 Czech-Italian combination of Kveta Peschke and Francesca Schiavone.

The semi-finals of both singles and doubles events will be played on Saturday 11 November, with the finals to be decided on Sunday.

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