Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis on Thursday broke a 22-year-old world record by winning their 29th women’s doubles match in a row en route to their entry into the women’s doubles final of the WTA Sydney International, on Thursday.
The World No 1 pair came from behind to beat the pair of Romanian Raluca Olaru and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 4-6 6-3 10-8 in a closely-fought semi-final.
They now surpassed the pair of Puerto Rican Gigi Fernandez and Belarus’ Natasha Zvereva, who won 28 matches on the trot during their successful pairing back in 1994.
The Indo-Swiss pair has continued their good show from 2015 when they won 9 titles which included the Wimbledon, US Open and the year-ending WTA finals.
The 2016 has also started on a fabulous note as they have now made it to the second straight final, having won the Brisbane International last week. A win in the final will be their 11th WTA title together.
The semi-final on Thursday was a well-contested affair that went on for an hour and 31 minutes.
The two teams traded three breaks each but the Olaru-Shvedova pair broke their opponents for the fourth time to clinch the set by 6-4 margin.
Down by a set, Sania-Martina pair came back strongly break the opposition’s serve twice and also won a whopping 76 per cent of points on their first serve as they clinched the set 6-3. In the super tie-break, both pair did well to hold their service points but Olaru-Shvedova pair had a double fault at a crucial stage which turned the match decisively in favour of Sania-Martina.
The win was viewed by the ecstatic pair as an ideal preparation for their Australian Open ambitions, starting next week, which will be their third straight Grand Slam triumph if they win it. They have not lost a match since the Cincinnati Masters last year.
“This is something that I dreamed about and was hoping for. I can only say it over and over again. It’s something that it’s a priority also. When I was playing singles, singles was priority. I became No.1 there. Also simultaneously I was No.1 in both. Now I put 100 or 120 per cent into this, and that’s what makes us this great doubles. The chemistry is amazing. We don’t always play super tennis, but we come out and find a solution, that’s what makes us right now the best doubles in the world,” said Martina.
In men’s doubles, Sania’s compatriot Rohan Bopanna, partnering Romanian Florin Mergea, defeated Australians Sam Groth and John Peers 6-2, 6-4 in 57 minutes to enter the semi-final.