Nineteen years after tournament debut, Vera Zvonareva to play for WTA Finals doubles title

Nineteen years after she first set foot on court at the WTA Finals, Vera Zvonareva will play for the doubles title at the season-ending championships.

The 39-year-old Russian and her German partner Laura Siegemund, who were the last team to qualify for the year-end championships by winning the title in Nanchang, China in the last week of the season, beat No. 2 seeds Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens 3-6, 6-3, [10-5] in Sunday's semifinals.

To reach the knockout rounds, 2020 US Open champions Siegemund, 35, and Zvonareva finished second in the Mahahual Group after completing a 3-6, 6-4, [10-8] win over No. 1 seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula to kick off Sunday's order of play in Cancun.

The match, in fact, began two days ago, but its resumption was washed out on Saturday due to rain.

Zvonareva, a former world No. 2 in singles, debuted at the WTA Finals in 2004, and qualified in doubles for the first (and only previous) time in 2005. She's playing her sixth career WTA Finals, having also qualified four straight years in singles from 2008-11. Siegemund is in the year-end field for the first time.

The veteran duo kicked off the resumption of their partnership in Miami, winning in Washington D.C., Ningbo and Nanchang. They were also runners-up at US Open.

"We've played a great season," Siegemund said. "We started a bit late and we made it on the last weeks to come here. That's really what we've been working for ... me, personally, I can't ask for more."

Despite the loss, Hunter will rise to world No. 1 on Monday and clinched the year-end top ranking in doubles. Hunter is the second Australian woman to end the season in the top spot in doubles after Samantha Stosur in 2006, and the third to reach the summit all-time along with Rennae Stubbs.

No. 6 seeds Siegemund and Zvonareva will play Nicole Melichar-Martinez and another Aussie, Ellen Perez, for the year-end crown. The eighth-seeded American-Aussie pair, who finished second to Hunter and Mertens in the Maya Ka'an Group, beat US Open champions Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe in the other semifinal, 6-1, 6-7(1), [10-6].