Martina Hingis has continued her second lease of tennis life as purely a doubles player by winning the women’s title at the Australian Open, alongside Sania Mirza.
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The top seeds beat Czech pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 in the final at Melbourne Park.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today congratulated Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis for their “big win” at the Australian Open. Overall, Sania now has 6 Grand Slam titles including three mixed doubles crowns.
The Australian great says “This is not a club that I’m a member of – it’s an open course”.
Having fallen to a 1-4 deficit, the Hradecka-Hlavackova combination managed to break back with some resolute defence and sharp volleys, but Mirza scooped in a delicate lob and Hingis chipped a stunning acute volley to move within one game of the title at 5-2.
Play is under way at the Australian Open on Thursday, with a men’s doubles match involving Andy Murray’s older brother Jamie providing a prelude to the women’s singles semifinals.
The pair made a ideal start to the season by winning back to back titles at the Brisbane and Sydney International events.
Serving for the set and match, Sania wasted three matchpoint opportunities but finally clinched it when Julia’s hit went into the net to give the Indo-Swiss pair entry into the finals. After that we only lost two more matches.
Later, Sania and Croat Ivan Dodig, also seeded top, sailed past the unseeded Kazakh-Pakistani duo of Yaroslava Shvedova and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 7-5 6-2.
Vesnina and Soares, both Sania’s former partners, will next meet Coco Vandeweghe and Horia Tecau in the mixed doubles final.
During their first stint together, the Czechs reached four major finals, walking away with the silverware at the French Open in 2012 and US Open in 2013.
6-3 win over defending champions Leander Paes and Martina Hingis in a thrilling contest that lasted 73 minutes. Sania, 29, has now six Grand Slam titles to her credit.
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“She’s an awesome champion and I’ve also got to know her as a person and she’s an wonderful person”, she said.
