Monique Barry and Elena Micic have tasted some success as a pair in the past, but Saturday’s match against Gabriella Da Silva-Fick and Belle Thompson in Burnie was the first time that the third seeds had reached a tournament final together. They certainly have a contrast in styles, with the left-handed New Zealander being more compact and having a much better serve, while Micic makes up for her lack of power when she starts points by covering a fair bit of ground to finish them off.
It was somewhat of a surprise when Micic held to love to start the match, and that looked even better when Da Silva-Fick finished a great rally by dumping a forehand volley into the net to give away the first break points. Barry was forced into an overhead error to take them to deuce, where Micic pushed her backhand return wide to lose the deciding point.
Barry was in even more trouble when forced into a backhand error to go to 0-40, but unforced errors from Thompson and Da Silva-Fick saved the first two break points. Da Silva-Fick was then forced to hit a backhand into the net, and a great serve by Barry on the deciding point saw Da Silva-Fick’s backhand return fly long. The next full rotation of serve saw all the games held with a lot less drama, the first real highlight coming in the last of those when Barry hit a beautiful forehand winner down the tramlines.
It was then Thompson’s turn to get taken to 30-40 and, although she saved the first break point with an unreturnable serve to Micic, she gave away the deciding point when she hit a forehand into the net. That left Micic serving for the set, but she started with a double fault. A winning volley from Barry was followed by a beautiful forehand volley from Da Silva-Fick to end a good short rally, but three return errors in a row allowed Micic to hold serve and complete the set after 31 minutes.
Da Silva-Fick served first in the second set, and won the first point when Barry hit a backhand into the net, but that was the end of the good news for her team. Thompson lost the next two points with forced and unforced errors on forehand volleys, and Micic hit the shot of the match, a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines, to bring up break points. Only one was needed, as Da Silva-Fick served her team’s first double fault at a very inopportune moment.
She did hit a gorgeous cross-court forehand return off Micic in the next game before Barry was forced into two volleyed errors to give away break points. Once again the loss came on the first chance, with Micic hitting a poor forehand over the baseline. Thompson found herself at 30-40 for the second game in a row, and again got to deuce by forcing Barry into a return error. This time, though, she was able to escape with her serve intact when Barry’s backhand return of the deciding point went into the net.
The best rally of the match came when Barry served next, the fantastic 20 shot exchange ending when Da Silva-Fick hit a nice cross-court backhand winner. This game went to deuce as well, when Barry thumped a forehand into the net, but she aced Da Silva-Fick out wide to win the deciding point. Da Silva-Fick was then up 40-15 before Thompson found the net with a forehand volley, and a double fault dropped them back to deuce. Micic got the deciding point safely back in play, but Da Silva-Fick hammered a forehand over the baseline to give away the break.
Micic held safely to consolidate the advantage before Thompson ended up at deuce for the third time in a row after overhitting a cross-court backhand. She did the same with a cross-court forehand to lose the deciding point, and that left Barry serving for the match. She started with a double fault, but Micic got them back on track with a nice cross-court forehand volley to end another fantastic rally.
A forced return error from Da Silva-Fick and an ace wide out to Thompson gave Barry and Micic three Championship points, but Barry missed the first with a backhand that went too far. A poor overhead from Micic saw the ball fly away off the top of the racquet to take them to deuce, and Barry was forced into a backhand error to lose the deciding point.
Da Silva-Fick then held to love, the highlight being another fantastic rally on the second point. Micic lost that one with a forehand into the net, but she was still going to be serving for the match after Barry was forced to hit two shots into the net. A forced return error from Da Silva-Fick took the score to 40-0, giving the third seeds three more Championship points, and a nice forehand volley from Barry into the right tramline on the first of those wrapped up the match after an hour and 11 minutes. The final score was 6-3, 6-4.
It’s Barry’s sixth ITF doubles title, but her first above W15 level. She was already at a new career-high ranking, and the points that she will receive for this victory next week will push her up to somewhere around 260 in the world. She and Micic will now try for a Tasmanian double in Launceston this week, where they’ve moved up one spot to be the second seeds.