PTI
London, July 12: Sania Mirza won her first Major women’s doubles title when she, partnering Martina Hingis of Switzerland, annexed the Wimbledon crown here in a match that ended late Sunday evening. In the final, the Sania-Martina combo won 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 against the Russian duo of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in a tie that lasted 145 minutes.
Sania had in the past won three mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. She won the Australian (2009) and French Open (2012) mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi and then won the US Open (2014) title partnering Bruno Soares of Brazil. But a Major women’s doubles title had eluded her till Saturday.
It looked all but over for the Indo-Swiss combination when they fell behind 2-5 in the third set. But then they came back strongly to win five games in a row to win the set and with it the match. A break of 10 minutes to close the roof of the Centre Court also helped their cause as it affected the rhythm of the Russians.
The crucial break for the Indians came in the ninth and 11th games of the third set. With Makarova serving for the match in the ninth game, Sania and Hingis adopted aggressive measures to break the Russian and bring the match back on serve.
Then in the 11th game with Vesnina serving, Sania hit a stunning forehand that was followed up by a reflex volley at the net by Hingis and the top seeds were up 6-5. Hingis held her serve at love enabling Sania to become the first Indian woman to win the senior women’s doubles title. It was also the first Grand Slam title for Martina after a gap of seven years.
This was the third time that Sania and Martina faced the Russian duo in
a final and maintained their supremacy, the other two being at Indian Wells and Miami.