Since she switched completely from playing singles to doubles, India’s Sania Mirza had won three mixed doubles titles with different partners. She also had several partners in women’s doubles for a couple of years but she could never come close to winning any Grand Slam title with any of them. Six months ago in March 2015, Sania paired with Martina Hingis for the first time in the 2015 BNP Open at Indian Wells and the pair struck gold in their first tournament itself. They followed the Indian Wells victory with another at the 2015 Miami Open. They also won the Family Circles Cup in April 2015 and acquired the no.1 ranking position on WTA tour. Sania/Hingis had a few losses as well but mostly their personal court chemistry kept working. Winning the Wimbledon with Hingis was Sania’s biggest career achievement. Now in the blossoming partnership with Martina Hingis, Sania has added the US Open crown to her trophy chest. In the 2014 US Open, Sania had won the mixed doubles crown with her Brazilian mate Bruno Soares. However playing with Zimbabwe’s Cara Black last year, Sania had lost to Hingis/Flavia Pennetta in the US Open semifinals. Since then enough water has flowed in the Hudson and Sania/Hingis have emerged as powerful women’s doubles pair. They have furnished the proof of their dominance by winning back-to-back Grand Slam titles in a space of two months.
While Sania Mirza and Leander Paes have benefitted from their association with Martina Hingis, the Swiss star has also reaped rich dividends playing with the two Indians. Isn’t it amazing that Hingis has won 5 Grand Slam titles in the 2015 tennis calendar? Beginning with the 2015 Australian Open, where she won the mixed double title with Leander Paes, she had gone on to win four more Grand Slam titles in Wimbledon and US Open taken together. In Sunday’s final, top-seeded Sania/Hingis defeated no.4 seeds Australia’s Casey Dellacqua/Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-3. For Indian tennis fans, the triumph of Sania Mirza and Leander Paes provided unlimited delight, coming soon after their identical victories at Wimbledon.
The women’s single final on sunday, however did not provide much to rave about as the Australian/Kazakhstan could barely match the skills of their Indo-Swiss opponents. After Sania/Hingis won the first game of the opening set, they came close to breaking Shvedova in the second as the Kazakh committed a double fault at 30-30. But the Aussie/Kazakh duo saved the break point. However, Sania/Hingis didn’t have to wait for long and broke Dellacqua at love to take a 3-1 lead. They lost the advantage immediately as Sania was broken in the fifth game. With Shvedova surrendering her serve one more time, Sania/Hingis took the first set at 6-3. Shvedova lost her serve at love in the first game of the second set and with the top seeds holding their serve; they were on a solid footing as the match progressed. In the seventh game, the Indo-Swiss pair achieved another break, when Sania fired two stunning winners on Dellacqua’s serve and the Australian was broken at love. There was no looking back for the top seeds as they completed the 6-3, 6-3 victory in 70 minutes to win their second consecutive Grand Slam title. For India, the US Open ended on a satisfactory note after Paes/Hingis had taken the mixed doubles trophy on Friday.