Olivia Nicholls Saves Three Match Points to Reach Final

olivia nicholls and Tereza Mihalikova survived a semifinal that could have gone either way, saving three match points before edging Hanyu Guo and Kristina Mladenovic 4:6, 7:5, 12:10 at the HSBC Championships 2026. The win sent them into the women’s doubles final at Queen’s Club after one hour and 24 minutes on grass.

Queen's Club turnaround

Nicholls and Mihalikova lost the first set 6:4, then forced the match into a deciding tie-break by taking the second set 7:5. In the end, they closed out the semifinal 12:10, a margin that left no room for error after three match points had already been saved.

The pair had already spent time on court earlier the same day. They beat the top seeds Aleksandra Krunić and Anna Danilina 6:4, 6:4 before returning for the semifinal, making the route to the final a two-match grind rather than a single clean run.

Hanyu Guo and Kristina Mladenovic

Guo and Mladenovic took the opening set and pushed the next two stages deep, but they could not finish the job once the match reached the tie-break. The semifinal stayed tight through the final points, and the 12:10 finish shows how little separated the two pairs at the end.

That earlier win over Krunić and Danilina also matters because Danilina and Krunić were the top seeds in the official WTA draw. Beating them 6:4, 6:4 and then getting through another three-set battle in the same day left Nicholls and Mihalikova with a final berth built on endurance as much as execution.

HSBC Championships 2026 final

For Nicholls, the path to the final now includes two wins in one day at Queen’s Club, one over the top seeds and another after a match tie-break that went to 12:10. The result sends the British player and Mihalikova into the title match with momentum, but it also shows how much work the pair had to do just to get there.