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By Adrianna Outlaw
© Tony Chang/Chang Photography

(August 16, 2010) Talk is cheap, but court conversations have contributed to rewarding championship chats for Maria Kirilenko. The soft-spoken Kirilenko is one of the hottest players on the WTA Tour, winning nine consecutive doubles matches and back-to-back championships in San Diego and Cincinnati with two different partners. Kirilenko says communication has been the key to her recent run.

On a day in which the much higher profile blond Russian named Maria squandered three match points in bowing to Kim Clijsters in the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open singles final, Kirilenko and partner Victoria Azarenka saved two set points in the second set to win the doubles crown with a 7-6(4), 7-6(8) triumph over fourth seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs.

It was doubles deja vu for three of the four women on court as Kirilenko partnered Zheng Jie to beat Raymond and Stubbs, 6-4, 6-4, in the San Diego final the prior week.

Kirilenko and Azarenka swept the second-seeded team, Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta, 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinals. It was the eighth career doubles title for Kirilenko and the fourth for Azarenka.

"From the first round you start to understand your partner more and more. We just talked a lot while we were playing," Kirilenko said. "All titles, singles or doubles, feel good. I'm happy to win today and Victoria played really well."

The pair played their third doubles tournament together following a quarterfinal finish at the 2007 New Haven tournament and the semifinals of Stanford in July.

"It was great to play with Maria. Maybe later we can play some more together," Azarenka said. "It was also great to see so many people watching today. It's amazing when so many people come to watch doubles. It's good energy."

It's uncertain when the pair will reprise their partnership. Kirilenko is playing doubles with Agnieszka Radwanska in Montreal at this week's Rogers Cup. Kirilenko and Radwanska reached the Australian semifinals in January and the French Open quarterfinals in June.