Agencies
Sydney, Jan 13: Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis equalled Wednesday the record for the longest women’s doubles winning streak by advancing to the WTA Sydney International semifinals with a straight set triumph here. The top seeds defeated China’s Chen Liang and Shuai Peng 6-2, 6-3 in less than an hour to enter the last four stage and remain on course for a second successive title this year.
With Wednesday’s victory, Mirza and Hingis won their 28th consecutive match to equal the record set by Puerto Rican Gigi Fernandez and Belarus’ Natasha Zvereva in 1994.
In a totally lop-sided contest, Mirza and Hingis broke their rivals twice and saved one on their own serve to pocket the opening set with ease.
Liang and Peng’s weak second serve ensured that the second set followed a similar course. The Indo-Swiss combine frittered away seven breakpoint chances but converted two, which were enough to give them the set and the match without breaking much sweat.
The Santina duo will next face the winners of the match between Timea Babos and Katarina Srebotnik and Raluca Olaru and Yaroslava Shvedova for a place in the final.
Meanwhile Romanian World No.2 Simona Halep continued her preparations for next week’s Australian Open by booking a semifinal berth in the women’s singles with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Karolina Pliskova. She will now meet Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Pliskpva, however, gave Halep a tough fight in both the sets. She rallied from 1-4 down in the first set and then 2-5 down in the second. But the Czech player failed to maintain the momentum.
“It was tough today (Wednesday). It was very close,” Halep told reporters. “I was leading in both the sets, but she came back strong. But I prevailed because I was focussed all through.”
Kuznetsova made a slow start in her match against Italian Sara Errani and fell 1-5 down in the first set before fighting back to win 7-6 (7-1), 6-0.
