Press Trust of India
Brisbane, Jan 9: Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis carried the dominance of 2015 into the new season, winning their sixth consecutive title by lifting the WTA Brisbane women’s doubles trophy, here Saturday. The top seeds quelled the challenge of German wildcards Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-1 in mere 69 minutes.
Sania and Martina, the World No.1 team, have now stitched a 26-match winning streak together, which has brought them six titles in a row at the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, WTA Finals and now here. By winning the match, the Indo-Swiss combine broke the longest winning streak achieved by Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci who had won 25 matches in a row in 2012.
The top seeds drew the first blood by breaking the rivals in the second game but the joy was shortlived as Kerber and Petkovic reeled off four straight games to take a 4-2 lead in the opening set.
Sania and Martina though were not perturbed, and duly broke back to restore parity at four-all and then nosed ahead 5-4. Games went on serve after that with Kerber serving at 5-6 to take the set to a tie-break. However, Kerber offered two break chances the opposition and Sania and Martina duly took advantage of the second one to win the set 7-5.
The top seeds controlled the game better in the second set, racing to a 3-0 lead by breaking their rivals in the second game. It was a cakewalk for Sania and Martina after that. They lost only one game en route winning the set 6-1 and with it the match and the title.
