HIGHLIGHTS

Indo-Swiss pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis secured the Year-End WTA No. 1 doubles ranking on Saturday. The duo also received a trophy in acknowledgment of their feat presented by Dubai Duty Free.

“Dubai Duty Free congratulates Serena, Sania and Martina on reaching the No. 1 spot in singles and doubles of the 2015 WTA Year-End ranking,” said Salah Tahlak, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Dubai Duty Free as quoted by the WTA website. “We are delighted to present the Year-End No.1 trophies to these players which signifies their outstanding results in 2015. We are a proud partner of the WTA and look forward to welcoming Serena, Sania and Martina back to Dubai in February 2016 to participate in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.”

Saina and Hingis are 8-1 in finals this season, with two Grand Slam titles (Wimbledon, US Open), five WTA Premier titles (BNP Paribas Open – Indian Wells, Miami Open, Family Circle Cup – Charleston, Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, China Open – Beijing), and one WTA International title (Guangzhou International Women’s Open).

The pair also reached their 10th final of the year together at WTA Finals overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan 6-4, 6-2 and extended their winning streak to 21 matches with the win. Their last loss was against the Chan sisters in the semi-finals at Cincinnati.

The No.3-seeded Taiwanese went up 3-1 in the first set but the No.1-seeded Indo-Swiss duo reeled off 11 of the next 14 games to completely run away with the match.

“On the court I feel very fortunate to have Sania on my side because she’s an incredibly positive person,” Martina said after the match on Saturday.

“When I get myself down, I’m not really a morning person, so she was out there and kept fighting and kept keeping me up there. That’s why we were able to come back in the first set.”
“Once I felt better, that’s when everything started to click. They’re a great team, so they’ve always come out strong in the past six matches that we played them. And they know how to play against us.

“We came out with a strategy against them. It’s very different to what we played against players like yesterday who have more power, different strategy,” Sania said.

“We kind of have to stick to our guns, stick to what we have planned. We have to trust our abilities. That’s what really takes us through a lot of the times, is that trust in each other’s ability. We know sooner or later we’re going to break.

“It happened at 3-2. If it didn’t happen there, we would still keep fighting to make it happen.”

Sania-Martina have won eight titles together this year.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Sports> Tennis / by TNN & Agencies / Photo: Getty Images / October 31st, 2015