World’s numero uno women’s doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis continued their rampaging form and extended their monster winning streak to 20 matches in a row after reaching the semifinals of the WTA Finals here on Friday.
Sania and Martina, top seeds here, took just 90 minutes to get past the challenge of fourth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-4, 7-5 in their final round-robin match and finish on top of their group.
By virtue of this win, Sania and Martina had avenged their loss to the same pair the last time they played in Rome this year.
Saina and Martina lifted their game just at the right time and made full use of the only two breaks of the match they got.
The Indo-Swiss pair got break point opportunities at 4-all in the first set and 5-all in the second, and grabbed the chances with both hands to serve both sets out.
“We had played them twice before and we were 1-all, so we knew we had to come out and play well, like we’ve been trying to do every match here at the WTA Finals,” Sania said after the match. “We just tried to come out and play our best, and that was enough to win today.”
After joining hands, Sania and Martina have won eight women’s doubles titles, including two Grand Slams at Wimbledon and US Open this year.
Sania and Martina are just two wins away from their ninth WTA doubles title since joining forces eight months ago.
“It feels pretty good!” Martina said after the victory. “Sania came up to me and asked me why don’t we try to play together, and at first we both had our partners, but as soon as we started we won a hat-trick right away at Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston. It was amazing how fast we clicked.
Sania and Martina will face third seeds, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals. Sania had won the women’s doubles title at last year’s WTA Finals with Cara Black of Zimbabwe.
Muguruza reaches semis
Garbine Muguruza reached the semifinals of the WTA Finals by beating former champion Petra Kvitova 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 on Friday, with the Czech player also advancing after lucie Safarova beat Angelique Kerber in straight sets.
Muguruza finished the round-robin stage 3-0 and only needed to win a set against Kvitova to earn a semifinal berth. The other three players in the group all finished 1-2, but Kvitova advanced because of more sets won. After losing to Muguruza, Kvitova needed the already eliminated Safarova to beat Kerber without dropping a set, and her compatriot came through by winning 6-4, 6-3.
Kvitova will play Maria Sharapova with Muguruza facing Agnieszka Radwanska in the other semifinal.