Number 4 seeds Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudemertova beat Olympic champions Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani 6-3 6-3 in the Martina Navratilova doubles Group at the WTA Finals in Ryadh.
Mertens and Kudemertova finished second in their round robin and will face Taylor Fritz and Taylor Fritz, who won the Liezel Huber Group.
Kudemertova and Mertens broke serve at 15 in the third game and held serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Errani dropped her serve on the deciding point in the seventh game to trail 2-5. Errani and Paolini saved three set points and pulled one of the two breaks back in the eighth game. Kudemertova and Mertens closed out the first set with a break on the deciding point in 39 minutes.
Errani and Paolini broke serve at 15 in the first game of the second set, but Kudemertova and Mertens broke straight back on the deciding point. Both teams held serve in their next two service game to draw level to 2-2. Kudemertova and Mertens broke serve in the sixth game and consolidated the break with a hold of serve to open up a 5-2 lead. Errani and Paolini earned a break-back point, but Kudemertova and Mertens held serve on the deciding point. Errani and Paolini saved two match points in the eighth point, but Kudemertova and Mertens served out the second set 6-3 with a hold at 15 in the ninth game.
