The doubles team of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis confirmed their status as the best doubles team in the world by taking out Hao-Ching Chang and Yung-Jan Chan 6-7(9) 6-1 [10-8]. This is their eighth title of the year and fourth consecutive, starting at the US Open in September. Their win streak stands at 18.
Sania Mirza is in every way a trailblazer for women’s tennis in India. For 10 straight years, she stood as the #1 player in singles and doubles in her country. She was the first to claim a WTA singles title when won the 2005 Hyderabad Open, defeating Alona Bondarenko in three sets to win the final. Following her title win in her home country, she showed off her bullet forehand and attacking game in taking out Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets in the second round of Dubai two weeks later. She also posted her career best Slam result that year when she defeated Marion Bartoli in straight sets to reach the round of 16 at the US Open, before losing in straight sets to Maria Sharapova.
2005 would be her greatest year on the singles tour but she continued to be a dangerous floater in taking out big names such as multiple wins over her current doubles partner Martina Hingis and Dinara Safina. She would reach a career high of #27 in 2007, but a series of injuries prevented her from fulfilling her potential in singes until a wrist injury caused her to defect from the singles tour.
Despite injury, Mirza refused to lie down; she chose to make history in a different fashion. She continued on the doubles circuit where she had great success, although never lifted high a women’s doubles trophy in a Grand Slam. She and Cara Black won the WTA Championships in Singapore in decisive fashion last year, defeating the team of Su-wei Hsieh and Peng Shuai 6-1 6-0 in the final.
2015 would be a defining moment for Sania Mirza; she and Cara Black split ways, pairing up with Su-Wei Hsieh for the first two months of the year before finally hooking up with Martina Hingis. Just one month later, Mirza was propelled to a milestone after winning her third straight title with Hingis; the #1 ranking. It was a special moment for the both of them as her partner Hingis had also attained the #1 ranking 18 years ago. She has remained at the top position since then and after a quiet 2-3 months, Hingis and Mirza claimed two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the US Open.
They keep building on their momentum and haven’t lost a match since Cincinnati. Personally I believe that doubles does not get enough credit; many tennis fans have considered doubles irrelevant and that any singles player could come in and win multiple Slams in it. What non-doubles viewers do not understand is how thin the margins are in doubles. The no-ad scoring and super tiebreak third sets make the margins so thin, that dominating that circuit has become nearly impossible. Yet the dynamic duo of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have managed just that. It takes not only skill but a keen mind and teamwork to be able to come through the clutch. Their domination of the doubles circuit does not get enough credit and it should because it is substantially more difficult to build win streaks in doubles than in singles.
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