The Indian tennis ace and her partner Martina Hingis beat Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova in straight sets at Rod Laver Arena to enter their third successive doubles Grand Slam final.
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The Indo-Swiss pair overcame 7th seeded Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (1), 6-3 in the finals.
It was the first women’s doubles title in Melbourne for India’s Mirza, while it was the first in 14 years for former singles world number one Hingis, who previously claimed the title in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000.
“Thank you to my partner, we’ve had an incredible year, we just keep going and going”, Mirza said. “Our fairytale continues. It’s awesome since winning Wimbledon”.
Hlavackova paid tribute to Hingis and Mirza, who have nicknamed their team “Santina”, saying they are forcing all the other teams to raise their level. “She’s busy, yeah. She’s got a job to do”, Hingis added. This is the sixth Grand Slam title for Sania, whose most recent mixed doubles victory came in 2014 with Bruno Soares at the US Open. “I am taking a couple of days off before going to Fed Cup in Thailand”, said Sania after her arrival here.
Hingis and Mirza dominated the tiebreak and even after Hingis received a medical timeout for a shoulder injury, took a 2-0 lead in the second.
For Hingis, her latest Grand Slam title in Melbourne comes nearly 20 years after her first when the then-15-year-old won the women’s doubles at Wimbledon with Czech Helena Sukova in 1996. The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player bombed in five three-pointers as the Warriors (41-4) shot 11-for-26 from beyond the arc in the first meeting of the top two teams in the West this season. Mirza, who won the 2009 mixed doubles title with fellow Indian player Mahesh Bhupathi, was playing later Friday in mixed doubles semifinal with Ivan Dodig of Croatia.
“We were pushed to the limit today, especially in the first set”, Hingis said.
Hradecka sent a forehand long to give the top seeds a breakpoint and netted a backhand to make it 3-3.
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A beaming Hingis at the Rogers Cup in Toronto in August 2015.
