Wuhan (China), Oct 3 (IANS) The top seeded pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis defeated the Romanian duo of Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu in straight sets to win the doubles title at the Wuhan Open tennis tournament here on Saturday.
The Indo-Swiss combination — which did not drop a single set through the tournament — hardly broke sweat as they vanquished their opponents 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and nine minutes.
This was the seventh title that the Sania-Martina combination have won this year. The top ranked pair have also won consecutive Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the US Open earlier in 2015. Sania’s partnership with Martina has helped her become the first Indian women’s player to take the top spot in the doubles rankings.
This was also the Sania and Martina’s second win over the Romanian pair this year. They had earlier defeated them 6-4, 6-1 in the second round of the Italian Open in Rome last May.
Sania hit winners from the baseline at regular intervals while Hingis kept up the pressure on the Romanians with her quick reflexes and volleys. In the first set, Sania-Martina had taken a 2-0 lead beore Irina and Monica hit back by breaking Hingis’ serve in the third game.
But the Indo-Swiss combination claimed a break in the very next game to go 3-1 up. Sania and Martina clinched another service break in the eigth game to take a one-set lead.
Irina and Monica made a strong start in the second set by taking a 2-0 lead. But Sania and Martina bounced back by winning four consecutinve games to take control of the match.