Sania Mirza and Cara Black qualify for year-end WTA finals

Sania Mirza and Cara Black

St.Petersburg (US), Sep 23 (IANS) Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Cara Black Tuesday became the fourth team to qualify for the season-ending BNP Paribas Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Finals to be held in Singapore, Oct 17-26.

Sania will make her WTA finals debut in the eight-team doubles event. The Indo-Zimbabwean pair have won two titles this season.

They join Italy's Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, China's Peng Shuai and Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-Wei, and Russia's Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova in the draw. The final four teams will be determined based on results at the upcoming tournaments.

"Cara and I are excited to have qualified for the WTA finals and look forward to the opportunity to compete against the best doubles teams in the world," said Sania, adding: "We have lots to celebrate already. We are having a great year on the court and we hope to continue that success with a great run in Singapore."

"Cara and Sania have proven to be, not only one of the best WTA doubles partnerships on the court, but also inspirational leaders off the court to fans worldwide - Cara as a mother and Sania for the millions of fans in India," said WTA Chairman & CEO Stacey Allaster.

Cara and Sania have produced an impressive 2014 season, highlighted by titles at the Portugal Open (Oeiras) and Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo), along with runner-up finishes at the BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells), the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart) and the Rogers Cup (Montreal).

Cara and Sania are making their first appearance in the WTA finals as a team. Cara will be making her 11th appearance at the year-end event. She previously qualified for ten consecutive years (2000-09) with three different partners-Elena Likhovtseva (2000-03), Rennae Stubbs (2004-06) and Liezel Huber (2007-09).