Jones and Black, Schneemann and Glozman to square off for women’s doubles gold
The top-seeded pairings of Allyce Jones/Tyra Black and Lacy Schneemann/Vivian Glozman advanced through the women’s doubles draw on Friday and are now just one win away from earning a title at the Proton Australia Open.
Jones/Black got a good look at some top international talent in their quarterfinal and semifinal matchups, where they faced off against Roos van Reek/Kaitlynn Hart and Emilia Schmidt/Danni-Elle Townsend, respectively.
In those matches, we saw Jones—traditionally known as an excellent right-side player—spend more time on the left.
“I’ve been working on that for the past few months since I have my own court at home,” she mentioned. “Tyra was nice enough to give me the opportunity, and I think it’s a good way for us to switch things up if something isn’t working.”
After the tandem’s 11-6, 11-5 semifinal victory over Schmidt/Townsend, Black took a moment to shout out the Aussie crowd.
“When I first came to Australia for the Junior Australian Open back when I played tennis, it was the coolest thing ever because I had these fans come out and cheer me on,” she recalled. “That was really the first time that I experienced something like that, so I absolutely love the fans in Australia. They have so much energy, and they’re so much fun.”
Jones/Black will face No. 2 seeds Lacy Schneemann/Vivian Glozman in Sunday’s final.
Schneemann/Glozman—who made the final of the LA Open back in April—had similar success on Friday and didn’t drop a game en route to the gold medal match.
After an 11-7, 11-6 victory over No. 3 seeds Jessie Irvine/Alix Truong in the semifinals, Schneemann gave some insight into what to expect in the title match.
“In these conditions, it’ll be extra tough because [Allyce and Tyra] have crazy good defense, and with the Franklin indoors it’ll be pretty hard to put the ball away, so I expect some very long rallies,” she noted. “We try to bring a lot of firepower; you’ll see us drive, crash, and hit the ball hard, but expect long points.”
We’ll see if that rings true on Sunday, as both teams look to secure their first career doubles titles on the PPA Tour.
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