SANIA HEADS FOR TOP SPOT
Tennis ace bags 25th WTA doubles crown, in Miami with Hingis
25TH WTA TITLE
Sania Mirza won her 25th WTA doubles title by winning Miami Open with Martina Hingis.
WORLD NUMBER 3
Sania and Hingis jump to No. 3 from No. 9 in the Road To
Singapore doubles leaderboard.
145 POINTS TO NO. 1
In individual doubles rankings, Sania is 145 points away from becoming World No. 1
WINNING POINTS
Her win at the Miami Open gives her 1,000 ranking points, taking her total to 7.495.
NEXT CHANCE
Sania needs to win the Family Circle Cup, beginning this week in Charleston, where she and Martina are top seeds, to get to No.1 spot
Miami, April 6: Sania Mirza achieved yet another career milestone by capturing her 25th WTA doubles title as the Indian ace continued her dream start with Martina Hingis to win the Miami Open trophy here on Sunday.
The top seeded IndoSwiss pair overcame a sluggish start to take the title with a 7-5, 6-1 scoreline against second seeded Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
Sania and Hingis were trailing 2-5 in the opening set but regrouped and turned the tables on their fierce opponents by reeling off eight games in a row.
They had the beaten the same Russian team at Indian Wells for their first title together.
It has been an absolute dream start for Sania and Hingis as they are yet to lose a set since they began their partnership.
“We just tried to keep telling each other to enjoy the struggle,” Sania said after the match.
“Last week everything came very, very easily to us — we didn’t lose more than four games in a set. Over here we were down, and we were panicking. It was like, ‘ Oh my God, we’re not playing well.’ We just weren’t used to that,” she said. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday congratulated Sania for her brilliant win. He sent a congratulatory message to Sania, and said he hopes she will bring further laurels to Telangana and the country by winning more titles. Meanwhile, hot but happy, Novak Djokovic had just begun celebrating his latest championship when he tossed his towel and sweatbands into the crowd. They were soggy souvenirs for sure.
Djokovic earned his fifth Key Biscayne title on Sunday, beating Andy Murray for the seventh consecutive time by showing superior stamina in the subtropical heat to win the Miami Open final 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-0.
Murray broke in the final game of the second set to even the match, but fatigue then became a factor on a sunny, humid, 80degree afternoon.
Djokovic was the fitter player down the stretch.
“It was brutal — it’s very warm,” he said. “I was prepared for a physical battle. But it’s one thing to prepare and another thing to experience it on the court. I was expecting very long rallies and played the third set the way I was supposed to, and I’m thrilled.” The top- ranked Djokovic became the first man to complete the Indian Wells-Key Biscayne spring sweep three times, and he has now done it twice in a row.
He beat Murray in the Indian Wells semifinals and in the Australian Open final for his eighth Grand Slam title two months ago.