Saturday, September 27, 2014

Martina Hingis & Flavia Pennetta win first doubles crown together in Wuhan China



WUHAN, China - Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta continued their late charge for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, winning their first WTA doubles title as a team at the Premier-level Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open with a victory over Cara Black and Caroline Garcia.

Hingis and Pennetta looked fresh early on, and understandably so - they only played two full matches in four rounds going in, winning one by retirement and another by walkover. And both of their wins came in straight sets, too. The No.6-seeded Swiss-Italian combo stormed out to a 6-4, 5-3 lead.

The No.8-seeded Black and Garcia came alive from there, though. They fought off four match points en route to sneaking out the second set, 7-5, and built all kinds of leads in the ensuing match tie-break, like 4-1, 6-3, and - after losing those leads - even bringing up two match points up 9-8 and 10-9.

But Hingis and Pennetta fought both of those off, including a fantastic Pennetta backhand volley into the corner on the second one, and with one last big serve they closed it out, 6-4, 5-7, 12-10.

Hingis and Pennetta's best results in four previous tournaments together were runner-up finishes at Eastbourne and the US Open, and they finally made it fifth time lucky here with their first WTA doubles title as a partnership. It was Hingis' 39th individual WTA doubles title and Pennetta's 16th.

And so their late push for the WTA Finals in Singapore continues - currently No.12 on the Road To Singapore doubles leaderboard, they will move just outside the Top 8 after this tournament. And with the Top 8 qualifying for the WTA's crown jewel event, they're coming alive at just the right time.

Hingis and Pennetta, both former World No.1s in doubles, spoke to the crowd after their win.

"We got a little bit tight in the end of the second set, but that's normal in a final," Pennetta said. "It was just amazing to play doubles with Martina again. She's a great partner and a great person.

"Our first time in Wuhan was amazing. Everything was perfect. We really enjoyed our week."

"First, I want to say Xie Xie Wuhan," Hingis - who was saying thank you - started her speech with, drawing cheers from the crowd. "I really want to thank everybody for coming out here for the final.

"There aren't many places I can say I'm coming to for the first time in my 20 years of playing. And I really loved this tournament. I really enjoyed every moment. It's just been a fantastic week.

"The city is really pretty and it was just a wonderful event."

Hingis and Pennetta will now head to Beijing for the China Open, where they are the No.8 seeds.

Well how about that!. They are an awesome team. 

Nice job, congrats ladies!. 

On the women's singles side at the China Open Petra Kvitova won against Eugene Bouchard which was disappointing.

But hopefully Bouchard will figure out Kvitova in the future.

wtatennis.com

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