Grass specialists in finals weekend

There will be grass tennis of the highest level on Saturday. The semi-finals of the Libéma Open offer players who have proven to excel at this challenging grounds.

CoCo Vandeweghe and Kirsten Flipkens have left Rosmalen with a trophy before. Their opponents Aleksandra Krunic and Viktoria Kuzmova are eager newcomers. Vandeweghe won the title in 2014 and 2016 and Flipkens was losing finalist in 2013.

The Belgian triumphed in the doubles tournament with Dominika Cibulkova and can claim the title again. She will give it a try in a Dutch/Belgian finale. Flipkens plays with Kiki Bertens against Demi Schuurs and Elise Mertens. The match will start by the eind of the afternoon on court 1. The gentlemen’s doubles final will be played before, at 3 pm.

The gentlemen doubles final will be a battle between France and Australia. Coincidental the soccer teams of France and Australia will also play against each other the same day at the World Championships in Russia. France will be represented by Jeremy Chardy and Richard Gasquet. They will play against Matthew Ebden and Bernard Tomic from ‘down under’ respectively. All four semi-finalists are on the hunt for their first place in the final of the Libéma Open.

However, to be successful on grass is not new for these gentlemen. Gasquet played the semi-final at Wimbledon twice, Tomic once reached the last eight at the Grand Slam tournament in London and Ebden played his only ATP final on grass in Newport last year. Chardy won a title on grass last week in England and defeated compatriot and top seed Andrian Mannarino in Rosmalen.