Czech stars come back from nowhere to reach the final

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Czech girls celebrate winning their place in another Major final

Barbora Hermannová and Marketa Sluková never know when they’re beaten.

10-6 down in yet another tiebreak, the Czech stars rallied to battle their way to the gold medal match with a brilliant comeback win over Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho.

The Vienna Major champions looked in trouble after losing the first set before trailing in the third.

But the pair summoned the energy in what was their fifth third-set match in six games in Hamburg to seal a place in another final.

“It’s been a long season but in this moment, in the final set, I wasn’t thinking about that, I was in the mode ‘no, this is not the time to give up,’” said Barbora afterwards. “I thought we needed a bit more love, I love these pressure situations. I was trying to serve as good as I can. Maybe this long season helped us being patient. And we were really, really patient in this game. We’ve played so many matches and experienced so many situations on court that we know almost every situation now.

“I have to say we remained really patient; there was no stress, no anger on the court and it worked our really well.”

The pair almost exited the tournament on Saturday but now find themselves in the grand finale, eyeing the biggest winners’ check in beach history.

“I’m incredibly proud of us,” Marketa said. “Especially of Bara, because she did an amazing job. She was fighting, she did not give up and it was really amazing. In certain moments I played so bad, and I thought she might be upset, but she did not want us to lose. I am happy we have another game and for it to be the final is amazing.”

For the defeated Aussies, the loss was tough to take as another close encounter with the Czechs ended in disappointment.

“At the end we didn’t take the opportunities,” said Taliqua. “The team that were more aggressive in the end won it and that was the Czechs so all credit to them, they deserved it.”

Mariafe added: “We knew they would come back stronger in the second set but we should have stay more aggressive in those key moments. But it will make sure we come back stronger.”

Bara and Maki will take on the winner of the all-Brazilian semifinal between Carol/Maria and Agatha/Duda in the gold medal match at 2pm CEST. Watch it live on BeachStream