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Sania-Martina enter Miami Open final

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BNP Paribas Open - Day 13

Miami: Indo-Swiss tennis combine Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis reached their second successive women’s doubles final when they entered the summit clash of the Miami Open with a straight sets win at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park here.

The top seeds defeated the Hungarian-French pairing of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-4 in exactly an hour on Saturday.

Sania and Martina will take on Russian second seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final on Sunday whom they had defeated last month in Indian Wells to win their maiden tournament as a pair.

Though the top seeds served twice the number of double faults, they were better in every other aspect of the game than their seventh seeded opponents.

Crucially, Sania and Martina won five of the available breakpoints to that of two out of 10 chances for Timea and Kristina.

“We’re still learning to play with each other so it’s good to play against a tough team like that. They’re really good,” Sania said.

“We were down a break in the first set so we’re happy we were able to get it back and win the first set 6-2. We’re just happy to be in another final now.”

Their opponents in the final — Ekaterina and Elena — overcame Czech ninth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

Asked what they would be doing to defeat the Russian girls, Sania quipped, “The same as we did last week! We just have to keep focused and fight for every point. I keep saying this — names don’t win you matches, neither does any result. Every day is a different day.”

(IANS)

Sania-Hingis win BNP Paribas Open title

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Sania-Hingis

Indian Wells: Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have completed a dream first tournament together, beating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-4 to win the BNP Paribas Open women’s doubles title here.

The No.1 seeds, Hingis (Switzerland) and Mirza (India) didn’t lose more than four games in any set all fortnight.

After cruising through the first set, they fell behind 2-4 in the second to No.2 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. But they flipped the script from there with four straight games to end it 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.

Hingis has won 11 Grand Slams in the team discipline (nine in women’s and two in mixed) while Sania has claimed three Grand Slams (all in mixed) — and their doubles partnership was eagerly awaited in the tennis circuit.

“This is something we were hoping for,” Hingis said after the win.

“She hits a big forehand, especially on the right side, and I can move and finish off the point. She prepares, I finish. That’s pretty cool to me,” she added.

Hingis expressed her satisfaction at the performance of the pair in the tournament.

“I’m very happy we made this move. Obviously, we had partners we played well with, like me last year with Flavia, and changing was a big move.”

“I’m very happy it worked out, because you never know what to expect. Winning the tournament in our premier, it’s new energy, and hopefully we can keep it up,” Hingis said.

Mirza echoed Hingis’ sentiments but admitted that she didn’t expect to win in such a dominating fashion.

“On paper, obviously we are supposed to be a good team, but it doesn’t always turn out that way when you step on the court,” Sania said.

“So, we’re really happy we weren’t just able to win, but win in such dominating fashion, not losing a set and being down just two times in the whole two weeks.”

Sania was asked what makes them such a good team in terms of strategy on the doubles court.

“She’s one of the best people who can complement the way I play,” the Indian said.

“She’s got probably some of the best hands in the world at the net. For me, I need that. I need someone who can finish the balls off where I set them up.”

“And that’s really it. Like I said, on paper everything looks great, but you still have to go out there. Names don’t do anything. You have to go out and win.”

(IANS)

Sania-Bruno enter Australian Open semis

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sania_bruno

Melbourne: Top-seeded mixed doubles duo Sania Mirza and Bruno Soares marched in to the semi-finals of the Australian Open, beating local pair Casey Dellacqua and John Peers 6-2, 6-2 in a last-eight match here Wednesday.

The Indo-Brazilian pair started the match on a bright note, breaking their opponents twice to claim the first set 6-2 in just 23 minutes at Melbourne Park.

They continued their ascendancy in the second set leading 4-2, going on to win the second set by an identical first set score, taking a mere 30 minutes to claim the second set on Court 2.

The victors hit 18 winners and committed 10 unforced errors on their way to victory. They are scheduled to play the winner of the quarter-final between third seeds Kristina Mladenovic of France and Canada’s Daniel Nestor and fifth seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Juan Sebastian Cabal of Colombia.

Meanwhile in boys’ singles, India’s Sumit Nagal went down to Australia’s Marc Polmans 1-6, 1-6 in the third round in just 45 minutes.

(IANS)

Indians out of mens, women's doubles, mixed doubles hopes alive

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Leander Paes

Melbourne: The Indian contingent had a disappointing day in the men’s and women’s doubles competitions of the Australian Open, getting knocked out in their respective second round matches at the Melbourne Park Friday.

But Sania Mirza won her opening round match in mixed doubles to keep the country’s challenge alive.

In the women’s doubles contest, Sania and Chinese Taiei’s Hsieh Su-wei lost 6-7 (5), 4-6 against Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and Polish Alicja Rosolska. However, the 28-year-old partnered Brazilian Bruno Soares to defeat the mixed doubles pair of Hungarian Timea Babos and American Eric Butorac 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) to advance to the second round.

The Indo-South African pair of Paes and Raven Klaasen lost 6-2, 4-6, 1-6 to Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, while Bopanna and his Canadian partner Daniel Nestor went down 5-7, 3-6 to American Feliciano Lopez and Belarusian Max Mirnyi in the men’s doubles.

Paes-Klaasen started the match well, winning the first set and hit 29 winners but that wasn’t enough as Bolelli-Fognini outhit them with 31 winners. The Indo-South African pair made 21 unforced errors as compared to 22 by their opponents.

Bopanna-Nestor pair scored 25 winners as compared to 33 by Lopez-Mirnyi. The Indo-Canadian pair made 10 unforced errors against Lopez-Mirnyi, who made 12 unforced errors.

The Indo-Chinese Taipei pair of Sania and Su-Wei scored only 29 winners as compared to 45 fired by Dabrowski and Rosolska, who also made 23 unforced errors while Sania-Su-Wei did 18 unforced errors.

(IANS)

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