Mirza-Strycova win Pan Pacific; Paes in final

TOKYO: India’s Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova posted a comfortable straight-set win over unseeded Chinese pair of Chen Liang and Zhaoxuan Yang to lift the Toray Pan Pacific Open title on Saturday.

The second seeded IndoCzezh combination had an easy outing against the Chinese duo as they took just 51 minutes to down their rivals 6-1 6-1 in the final of the women’s doubles event.

This is Sania and Strycova’s second title in three tournaments since they have paired together.

Last month, Sania and Strycova won the Cincinnati Open title with a 7-5 6-4 win in the final against the Indian’s previous partner Martina Hingis and Coco Vandeweghe.

However, Sania and Strycova were ousted from the US Open after losing in straight sets in the quarterfinal to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.

PAES-BEGEMANN WIN

ST PETERSBURG: India’s Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann made it to the finals of the St Petersburg Open by recording a straightset victory over the Russian pair of Mikhail Elgin and Alexander Kudryavtsev in the men’s doubles event.

Indo-German duo defeated the Russian pair 6-3 7-6 in a match that lasted around one and half hours.

Paes and Begemann won the first set in a canter in just 35 minutes.

However, the Russian pair came from a break back 0-2 down in the second set as they raced to a 5-2 lead.

The veteran Indian and his German partner then won five consecutive games to wrap up the set 7-5.

Paes had last won an ATP men’s doubles title, along with South Africa’s Raven Klaasen, in the 2015 New Zealand Open.

LAST MONTH, SANIA

AND STRYCOVA WON THE CINCINNATI OPEN TITLE, BEATING THE INDIAN’S PREVIOUS PARTNER MARTINA HINGIS AND COCO VANDEWEGHE