The top-seeded combine steamrollers to its ninth title in a lopsided final
Swiss veteran Martina Hingis and India’s Sania Mirza crowned a stunning year for their partnership on Sunday by winning their ninth title at the WTA Finals here on Sunday.
The top seeds, who joined forces only in March, beat Spain’s eighth seeds Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3 in 66 minutes, much of which looked more like an exhibition match than a season finale.
Hingis, 35, and Sania, 28, have also won Wimbledon, the US Open and Indian Wells on their way to Singapore, where they also swept all their matches. Their only finals loss was in Rome.
Sania and Hingis are now unbeaten in 22 matches, stretching back six tournaments.
In fact, since their last defeat — to Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan in Cincinnati — they have dropped just two sets.
The pair had bagged the 2015 WTA year-end top ranking on Saturday.
The Indo-Swiss pairing dropped serve only once through the match and broke their opponents five times to wrap up a comprehensive victory. Muguruza and Suarez Navarro — late replacements in the draw after Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova’s withdrawal — were completely outplayed.
In the second game, Sania unleashed a ferocious forehand to break Muguruza. The second set was morecompetitive, but Sania and Hingis did not let go of their supremacy and wrapped it up after little over an hour on court.
It has been 15 years since Hingis won a doubles title at the WTA Finals — she was also the singles champion in 2000 — and the pair share 33 years of professional experience between them.
“I feel like it was a perfect day,” Hingis said.
“Sania just played out of her mind — she was everywhere today, getting everything back and playing incredible tennis.”
Sania said “everything, on court, off court” is working for the pair.
“These are the moments we’ve worked all our lives for and we feel very fortunate together.
“We’ve done some amazing things this year so it’s a perfect way to, you know, end the year for us,” she added.
Sania successfully defended the title that she won with Cara Black last year, while for Hingis it was her 50th WTA doubles titles, a milestone only 15 other players have reached. In her singles career, Hingis won five Grand Slam titles.
Radwanska reigns
Meanwhile in singles, Agnieszka Radwanska won the biggest title of her career as she downed two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
Radwanska, who lost twice at the round-robin stage and upset Garbine Muguruza in the semis, came from a break down in the deciding set to win a tense final in two hours and five minutes.
The 26-year-old Pole, who was a last-minute qualifier for the eight-player season finale, was in floods of tears after winning the prestigious title at her seventh attempt.
“It just means everything — it was my first final and it couldn't have been any better,” she said.
“A few weeks ago I didn't even know I would be here. I was doing the right thing in the important moments of a really close match, I had my chances in the second set but it doesn't really matter how I won,” the Pole added.
Radwanska dominated the first set but Kvitova hit back to win the second and take it to a decider at an increasingly tense Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The Pole went down a break early in the third but she snatched back control and saw off a gritty fightback by Kvitova, who was hampered by an injury to her heavily strapped right leg.
The championship is generally considered the fifth most prestigious event on the women’s tour after the four Grand Slam tournaments. It also has the largest prize money and ranking points after the Grand Slams.
The results:
Singles: 5-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt 3-Petra Kvitova (Cze) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
Doubles: 1-Martina Hingis (Sui) & Sania Mirza (Ind) bt 8-Garbine Muguruza (Esp) & Carla Suarez Navarro (Esp) 6-0, 6-3. — Agencies
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