Valentina Ivanov has reached a couple of doubles semi-finals in the last few months, but the final that she and Rebecca Munk Mortensen played in The Hague was the first that they had reached together since winning a title in Kursumlijska Banja last July. Back then they were the top seeds, but this time that honour went to their Canadian opponents, Ariana Arseneault and Raphaelle Lacasse.
It was Munk Mortensen who served first, and there was an early highlight when she was forced to hit a forehand into the net to end a fantastic 13 shot rally. She then sent an inside-out forehand over the baseline to give away a deuce, and Arseneault hit a fabulous inside-out forehand return into the tramlines to win the deciding point and get an immediate break.
Arseneault then held by forcing Munk Mortensen to hit a backhand volley into the net to lose a great short rally before Ivanov, who had won the first point in that game with a beautiful cross-court forehand return, followed a lovely inside-out forehand winner with a gorgeous overhead volley into the left corner. She then smacked a backhand into the umpire’s stand before conceding a second break with a double fault.
The top seeds were starting to look like they might run away with the match as Lacasse served for the first time, but a beautiful soft backhand volley from Ivanov took the score to 30-30 before Arseneault conceded a break point when she hit a backhand volley into the net. That was converted when a great return from Munk Mortensen forced Lacasse to fly a forehand lob back over the baseline.
The next game started with the first of several points that had to be replayed because of balls coming across from the courts on either side. There are four courts in the main stadium in The Hague and, as is usual with most indoor venues, there are retractable nets between each. However, I haven’t seen them deployed in any match this week, and it’s been annoying to the players when they’ve had to stop and restart. The game itself featured three great rallies in a row through the middle stages, and Munk Mortensen held in the end when she forced Arseneault to hit her final forehand return into the net.
The incredible 17 shot rally in the next game was the best in the match, and it ended with probably the best shot of the afternoon when Arseneault landed a fabulous forehand lob near the end of the right-hand singles sideline. She went on to hold to love when Munk Mortensen lost another great rally by hitting a forehand volley just a bit too far. Ivanov also held to love, wrapping up the game with a beautiful backhand winner down the tramlines, but Lacasse held as well to keep her team that single break in front.
She added a lovely backhand volley through the middle of the court to start Munk Mortensen’s game, but the latter hit a gorgeous cross-court forehand winner before forcing Lacasse into two forehand errors to ensure that the top seeds would have to serve out the set. Arseneault started with a beautiful forehand volley down the tramlines to end a good short rally, and she closed out a comfortable hold with an unreturnable serve to Munk Mortensen. The set had taken 44 minutes.
What was probably the second-best rally in the match ended when Munk Mortensen smashed away a volley, but that provoked immediate complaints from the Canadians. It landed at the far end of the court, so as impossible for me to see, by the logical guess was that they thought the ball had landed past the baseline. Despite this being a final, the chair umpire was calling the service and baselines, and he obviously thought that it had caught the paint.
Munk Mortensen went on to hold comfortably, as did Lacasse, and Ivanov hit two gorgeous forehand winners down the left tramline as she held to love. Lacasse hit a beautiful backhand volley in the next game, but a smash from Munk Mortensen to end a good rally gave the third seeds a break point. Arseneault ended a short rally with the Dane by hitting a forehand lob well over the baseline, but the top seeds got a break point of their own when Ivanov hit an inside-out overhead volley well wide.
She redeemed herself by saving that with an easy cross-court forehand volley to end a rally between Munk Mortensen and Arseneault, but the latter won the deciding point with a fabulous forehand return down the singles sideline. Lacasse then held comfortably, despite a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines from Munk Mortensen, and that levelled the scores.
Ivanov held easily again, but that was followed by the worst service game of the match as Arseneault hit three double faults in her seven points to give away a break at the worst possible time. It was a game to forget, as she had also pulled a truly awful overhead volley halfway across the next court. Munk Mortensen was now serving for the set, and started with a double fault, but Arseneault gifted the game when she hit a cross-court backhand wide. The set had taken 42 minutes.
Lacasse served first in the match tie-break, and the top seeds were under immediate pressure when Ivanov hit a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines. What came next, though, possibly determined the result of the match, as Munk Mortensen hit a fabulous backhand down the line, only to see it called wide by the line judge. She couldn’t believe it, and nor could I, as it certainly appeared to catch plenty of the paint, but it meant that the original mini-break counted for nothing.
She did win her second point when Arseneault pulled a backhand wide to lose a good rally, with the latter then hitting the only ace of the match as she sneaked a serve down the backhand side and past Munk Mortensen’s outstretched racquet. Lacasse was forced to hit a forehand volley into the net to give the advantage back to the third seeds, but Ivanov hit a backhand into the net to lose her first serve.
That made the scores level as they changed ends for the first time, but Ivanov lost her second serve as well when she hit a cross-court forehand into the net. Arseneault was forced to hit a backhand volley into the net to put the teams back on serve, but Munk Mortensen hit poor backhand and forehand shots into the net to lose both her points. A beautiful cross-court backhand volley from Lacasse to end a good rally meant that her team went to the second change of ends two mini-breaks to the good, and a straightforward forehand volley from Arseneault gave her team five Championship points.
Ivanov saved the first with a beautiful forehand winner down the right-hand tramline, but Munk Mortensen sent an overhead volley over the baseline to end the match after an hour and 40 minutes. The final score was 6-4, 3-6, 10-5. Despite the loss Ivanov will move to a new career-high ranking of around 450 when the points for this match get added. That’s just a few places ahead of Elyse Tse, whose title in Monastir will lift her to a new career-high ranking as well.