Sania-Hingis Enter WTA Doubles Final Sharapova Muguruza Knocked Out in Singles-Semis

India’s Sania Mirza had another of her dream come true, when she stormed into the WTA doubles final at Singapore with her 8-month old partner Martina Hingis of Switzerland.  The Indo-Swiss pair began playing together in the American-Leg of this year’s WTA events. They began with the victory at Indian Wells and followed that up at Miami and Charleston. Sania/Hingis are now on the verge of notching up their ninth and perhaps one of the most prestigious victories of the 2015 season, when they face eighth-seeded Spanish pair of Garbine Muguruza/Carla Suarez Navarro on Sunday November 01, 2015. In Saturday’s semifinal, Sania/Hingis had to deal with the Taiwanese Chan sisters, who looked dangerous early on, until the Indo-Swiss team raised their game and beat their opponents in straight sets.  In the singles semifinals, the perfect week for Russia’s Maria Sharapova and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza was spoiled, when the Russian lost to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic while Muguruza went down in three sets against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. For the title clash it will now be a fight between Kvitova and Radwanska on Sunday.

The 2015 tennis season has been stupendous for the women’s doubles team of India’s Sania Mirza and Switzerland’s Martina Hingis. In Saturday’s WTA semifinal, the Indo-Swiss pair completed an amazing streak of 20 undefeated matches, when they defeated the Taiwanese team of Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan. However, the match was not a cakewalk for Sania/Hingis as the Chans enacted a dangerous sister-act in the first set.  Memories of the Cincinnati Open semifinals came alive, when the sisters had beaten Sania/Hingis as one of their rare denials this year. Since then, Sania/Hingis have beaten the Chan sisters three times. However, the Cincinnati flashback looked like repeating as the third-seeded Chans took a 3-1 lead in the first set. The top-seeded pair changed gears at this time and reeled off 11 out of the next 14 games. This completely changed the complexion of the match as Sania/Hingis emerged 6-4, 6-2 victors. For the WTA doubles title on Sunday, Sania/Hingis will take on Spain’s Garbine Muguruza/Carla Suarez Navarro. On their part, the Spanish women defeated the seventh-seeded Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka 7-6, 6-0.

In the women’s singles, the perfect 3-0 winning streaks of Russia’s Maria Sharapova and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza were broken by Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova and Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska. In Saturday’s first semifinal, Radwanska lost the first set on tiebreak against the hard-hitting Muguruza. But the Polish woman raised her game to force a decider by taking the second set 6-3. The Pole took an early 4-1 lead in the final set only to see Muguruza bounce back to make it 4-4. The two women held their serve to make it 5-5 before Radwanska found another break for a 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 victory that took her to the WTA final. For the 2015 WTP trophy, Radwanska will take on Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova.

In the second semifinal, Czech woman Petra Kvitova defeated Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who had displayed solid form in all three of her round-Robin matches. Riding on Sharapova’s inconsistency, Kvitova broke the Russian in the seventh and ninth games to take the first set in 42 minutes. But Sharapova bounced back in the second set and led 5-1. Just when the Russian looked like forcing a decider, Kvitova found back her rhythm to break Sharapova and made the score 5-3. The determined Kvitova then won 3 out of the next 4 games to take the set to tiebreak. Despite dropping to a 0-2 deficit early in the tiebreak, Kvitova hit back to win 5 out of the next 6 points and closed the match 6-3, 7-6.