Race to Singapore: Sania Mirza, Cara Black in fourth place

Sania Mirza (L) and Cara Black

St. Petersburg (Forida), Sep 11 (IANS): Sania Mirza, who will be skipping the Asian Games to focus on qualifying for the BNP Paribas Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in Singapore, and Cara Black are lying fourth in the Race to Singapore standings with just over a month to go for the season-ending tournament.

Meanwhile, the WTA announced that doubles teams Hsieh Su-Wei/Peng Shuai and Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina have officially qualified for the Finals to be staged at the Singapore Sports Hub from Oct 17-26.

Hsieh/Peng and Makarova/Vesnina join Italian duo Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci in doubles. The remaining five doubles teams will be determined during the WTA's Asian swing, which is highlighted by the Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo), Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, China Open (Beijing) and Kremlin Cup (Moscow).

Sania and Cara have a very good to chance to qualify for the finals and if they do it will be a fine achievement for Sania, who has had a good year with a mixed doubles title at the US Open this season. Her partnership with Cara Black has also seen them flourish, with Sania reaching a career high doubles ranking of fifth in July.

Defending champions at the WTA Finals, Hsieh/Peng reached the No. 1 doubles ranking earlier this year, becoming the first Asian team to hold the top spot. In 2014, the pair won titles at Roland Garros, BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells) and Qatar Total Open (Doha). As a team they own a perfect 12-0 record in finals throughout their career and return to the WTA Finals for the second consecutive year.