Press Trust of India
Singapore, Oct 31: The duo of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis sailed into the 10th final of the year at the WTA Finals after beating Chinese Taipei’s Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan in straight sets here Saturday. The Indo-Swiss pair posted a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 victory over the Chan sisters and won their 21st match in a row.
Sania and Martina’s last loss was against the Taiwanese sisters in the semifinals at Cincinnati in May. But since then the top seeded combination has beaten them three times and that pattern continued here.
The tie Saturday saw the third-seeded Taiwanese pair take an early lead, going 3-1 up in the first set but Sania and Martina reeled off 11 of the next 14 games to completely crush their opponents and run away with the match.
“On the court I feel very fortunate to have Sania on my side because she’s an incredibly positive person,” Martina said after the match.
“When I get myself down, she’s always there. Today also was no exception. She kept fighting and lifting my spirits. That’s why we were able to come back in the first set. Once I felt better, that’s when everything started to click,” the Swiss player added.
Sania said that she and Martina had a particular strategy against the Chan sisters. “They are not power players, they have finesse,” stated Sania. “So we decided to make them run, to stick to our guns even when they took an early lead.”
Meanwhile Martina is just a win away from her 50th WTA doubles title, a milestone that only 15 players have reached so far. On the other hand by virtue of reaching the final, Sania and Martina retained their No. 1 status for 2015. They were presented a trophy at the end of the match Saturday.
In women’s singles Agnieszka Radwanska rallied past an exhausted Garbine Muguruza to book a maiden appearance in the WTA Finals title match with a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5 victory over the Spaniard in a classic encounter. She will meet Petra Kvitova who stunned Maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), for the title.
Pole Radwanska used all her guile and defensive skills to see off the powerful 22-year-old Muguruza who started well but failed to sustain the momentum. Radwanska varied the pace on the ball as the match progressed and this led to the Spaniard committing errors as she tried to finish points quickly.
“I didn’t know I could come back after that first set,” World No. 6 Radwanska said. “t was a great match from the beginning to the end, lots of ups and downs, so many rallies and a lot of running. I am just so glad I could win.”