TENNIS in DEPTH.

Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta put the finishing touches on their dynamite doubles season on Sunday night, beating Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, 75 64, for their biggest career title in Doha. Dulko and Pennetta, already winners of six titles this year and the No.1 seeds at the prestigious season-ending WTA Championships – Doha 2010, faced set point at 4-5 in the first set, but Pennetta conjured up a strong first serve that drew a forehand return error from Peschke; Dulko and Pennetta then went on an eight point tear, winning the next two games at love to tuck away the first set. The second set stayed on serve until the fifth, sixth and seventh games, all of which were breaks – with Srebotnik, Pennetta and Peschke all losing serve. But Dulko never did, leaving the No.1 seeds up a break the rest of the set – Pennetta served it out, building a 40-0 lead and cliching it on the second match point.

“We never expected to be here,” Pennetta said on court after the match. “It’s amazing to be here, and especially with Gisela with me, it’s unbelievable. “I’m so happy. I can’t believe it,” an ecstatic Dulko added. “We’ve had such a good year and to finish like this is unbelievable. I’m so happy and so proud right now. And I’d like to thank Flavia for all of her support over the years.” Dulko and Pennetta were making their first career appearances at the WTA Championships – together and individually. On Saturday they were confirmed as the year-end No.1 team on the WTA; and to add to that, Dulko will rise to No.1 in the individual doubles rankings, just the second South American ever to achieve that feat (after Paola Suárez, who was also from Argentina).

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