Elyse Tse had had a couple of hours’ rest after her singles semi-final before she and fellow lefty Gala Arangio played their doubles final in Monastir against right-handers Julia Adams and Mouna Bouzgarrou, but it looked like she had recovered well when she held serve to love in the opening game. By the end, though, it would be fairly obvious that both she and Arangio had had enough.
Bouzgarrou did the same, acing Tse out wide to finish the game, before Adams started the highlights package with a beautiful backhand winner down the singles sideline to end the first great rally in the match. Tse took the next point with an easy cross-court backhand volley, but Arangio then double faulted before hitting two poor forehands to lose the game.
She did hit a fabulous forehand return through the middle of the court off Adams, but that only saved the first game point, the American completing an easy hold with a lovely cross-court forehand winner of her own. She added a gorgeous forehand return down the tramlines off Tse, but the next two games saw comfortable holds before Arangio served again. She got broken again, this time to love, with Adams starting and finishing the game with lovely forehand winners.
Adams was now serving for the set and, although the fantastic 13 shot rally on the first point wasn’t quite the best that we saw, it wasn’t far off. A slightly mishit overhead volley from Bouzgarrou was the only blip for the serving team, Adams wrapping up the set after 25 minutes when she hit a straightforward inside-out forehand winner to end another good rally.
She ended the next game the same way, although both her shot and the rally were of rather better quality. The problem with that ending was that it meant Tse had lost her serve, although it looked like they would get the break straight back off Bouzgarrou. The Tunisian won her first point with a beautiful cross-court forehand, but Tse took the second with a fabulous forehand return down the tramlines. Two unforced errors from Bouzgarrou gave away break points, but Adams saved the first with an easy cross-court backhand winner before Bouzgarrou aced Tse out wide, and Tse’s forehand return of the deciding point ended in the net.
A double fault from Arangio meant that she, too, went to deuce, but a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines from Adams cost another break of serve. The latter went to deuce as well, Bouzgarrou hitting an overhead volley to get to that point after Adams had double faulted. This time Arangio took the deciding point, but it was Tse who came out on top when she won the great rally that followed with a beautiful angled forehand volley.
Adams hit a beautiful forehand return off Tse in the next game but, frustratingly, the stream died and we missed the next nine points. Tse did go on to hold, as did Bouzgarrou, and the pictures came back in time to see Arangio ace Bouzgarrou out wide. That wasn’t enough, Adams hitting a beautiful forehand winner down the tramlines before Tse hit an awful forehand volley straight into the end wall. That gave away a break point, and Arangio put a backhand into the net to lose her serve for the fourth time in a row.
Adams was now serving for the title, but she lost the fantastic 15 shot rally on the second point when forced to run a forehand shot along the ground. Unforced errors from Arangio and Tse then gave away three Championship points, and an inside-out overhead volley from Bouzgarrou completed the victory after an hour and one minute. The final score was 6-2, 6-2. It was a disappointing ending for Tse and Arangio, especially given how well they had played earlier in the week, but I’m sure that they would have been very happy if told at the start of the event that they would make it all the way to the last match.