Melbourne: Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis took their winning streak to 36 matches as they won the Australian Open women’s doubles title here Friday. This was their third successive Grand Slam victory, the two having won the Wimbledon and US Open women’s doubles title last year. If they win the French Open title, they will complete a career Grand Slam.
In the final played at the Rod Laver Arena, the SanTina combination tamed the spirited Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 in a summit clash that lasted 115 minutes.
This year has been very good for the Indo-Swiss combo as this is their third title in succession in 2016, the two having won at Sydney and Brisbane before the Australian Open.
However, Sania’s hopes of a double delight ended when she and Ivan Dodig bowed out in the mixed doubles semifinals. The Indo-Croat combine lost to Elena Vesnina and Bruno Soares — both of whom were former partners of Sania 5-7, 6-7 (4-7). Sania and Dodig had a chance to win the second set when they led 6-5 with Sania serving. But the Indian lost her serve and the pair lost the tie-breaker to bow out of the tourney. Agencies
