India’s Sania Mirza (R) and Switzerland’s Martina Hingis (L) pose with the trophy as they celebrate their women’s doubles final victory against Czech Republic’s Lucie Hradecka and compatriot Andrea Hlavackova at the Australian Open in Melbourne Friday.
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But she returned in 2013 to play doubles and is now just a French Open away from holding all four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles at once after she and Mirza also won at Wimbledon and the US Open past year. They won the Wimbledon and the US Open in 2015. Their last defeat came against the Chan sisters in the Cincinnati Masters, before the start of the USOpen a year ago. The Indo-Croat pair the are top-seeds, while Paes-Hingis are unseeded.
“Most importantly I want to thank my partner”.
Sania and Martina won the first two games in the second set before losing the third but won the next two games to take a decisive 4-1 lead.
“I feel lonely without my partner”, she said, smiling.
The two Indian girls, seeded fifth in girls’ doubles, lost as a pair too as they went down to the unseeded local combination of Jaimee Fourlis and Maddison Inglis 6-7(3), 5-7 on Court 20 in the quarter-finals.
The Padma Bhushan awardee showed her class and power with strong forehands as Hingis struggled through the game with pain on her shoulder against the seventh-seeded pair. This was Sania’s fourth final at a Major in the women’s doubles. “We had already won two Grand Slams and you have pushed us to the limit”, said Hingis. “She is an wonderful person and it’s awesome to play with her”, she said.
Murray and Soares will play the winners of a later semifinal Thursday between Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek and Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers in Saturday’s final.
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Tennis Australia, Roger Federer’s management firm and a Brazilian businessman have combined to establish the Laver Cup, a Ryder Cup-style team event expected to pit the top players from Europe against the best players from the rest of the world.
