Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis reach Rome Masters final

Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza

Rome, May 16 (IANS)

Indian tennis player Sania Mirza came out with all guns blazing with Swiss partner Martina Hingis to enter the Rome Masters women's doubles final on the outdoor clay courts of the Foro Italico here on Saturday.

The top seeds defeated French-Slovenian fourth seeds Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik 6-2, 7-6(5) in an hour and 27 minutes to enter the summit clash of the €3,288,530 tournament where they will take on Hungarian-French third seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic for the crown.

This is the fourth time Sania and Martina have entered the finals playing together with the last times turning out to be title triumphs at Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston earlier this year.

There was nothing to separate in the first five games of the opening set as neither pair could hold on to their service games. However, just when it mattered, the world's two highest ranked players upped the ante to win the next three games and seal the set in their favour.

Caroline and Katarina came out much stronger in the second set. Though they let Sania and Martina break their serve in the third game, the third seeds came back towards the end to level the contest when they broke the top seeds, who were serving for the match, to make it 5-all.

The encounter then went into the tie-breaker where Sania and Martina just had that extra zing to clinch the tight contest.

Overall, Sania and Martina suffered because of four doubles faults which came towards the beginning. However, the total number of return points they won, helped the Indian-Swiss combine to win the match. Overall, Sania and Martina won 74 of the 130 points played and broke their opponents five times, twice more than the French-Slovenian pair.