Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis en route to another hat-trick of WTA titles
The Indo-Swiss doubles pairing of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis are on the brink of completing a 2nd hat-trick of WTA titles. Having entered the finals of the China Open, the world number 1 duo are odds-on favourites to emerge victorious and add yet another title to their soaring partnership.
The premier doubles combination in the current ladies circuit, Mirza and Hingis had previously won the 2015 editions of the Wuhan Open and Guangzhou Open. If they meet the prevailing expectations and go on to win the China Open, they will complete an unique treble of WTA titles, all of which would be on Chinese soil.
The duo who are on a 15-match winning streak have exceeded their previous 14-match victory record which had occurred in April. During their consecutive victories in Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston. They had not dropped a set in both the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
After stream-rolling their opponents in Wuhan and Guangzhou, the pair have looked a touch rusty in the China Open. Coming from a set down, they managed to defeat the Italians, Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta. Even in the quarterfinals against the unheralded Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, Sania and Martina struggled to impose their dominance. Even though they managed to emerge unscathed, the premier doubles pair would be aware that there are still a few areas to improve.
Sania Mirza accepted that they were still playing below their peak level. The 28-year old Hyderabadi enthused, “We don't feel invincible. We've both played enough tennis not to think that way, but what we have is belief. When we're in a tough situation, like when we were trailing 1-5 today, we believe that we can find a way. We can pull it off."
The Swiss veteran, Martina Hingis too echoed her thoughts. "Find a solution. That's what match play is all about, finding a way when the all doors are closing. We did that in the Wimbledon final and again in the match against the Chan sisters at the US Open. We know that when we're playing our best, we are hard to beat. But it hasn't been easy. We've worked really hard to be here. It already feels like we've played 52 weeks of tennis."
Emphasizing on the rapidly increasing trust and comfort level between each other, the popular duo revealed that they are targeting a Grand Slam sweep in 2016 by acquiring all the 4 majors.
In the final of the 2015 China Open, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis will take on the winner of the other semi-final clash between Casey Dellacqua/ Yaroslava Shvedova and the Taiwanese siblings, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan.
Another win for @mhingis & @MirzaSania who will play for their 8th title together after beating Liang/Wang 6-2 6-3 #chinaopen doubles
— China Open (@ChinaOpen) October 9, 2015